College Football Playoff 2018: Hokies out, Irish in New Year’s Six projections

Week 5 of our New Year’s Six Projections see the biggest shake-up all season. A familiar face returns and the College Football Playoff has a new team.

This past Saturday provided much drama to the college football world and caused some big changes to our New Year’s Six Projections. Many unbeaten teams fell for the first time, including Virginia Tech who lost to Old Dominion 49-35.

But upsets were not the only storyline in Week 4. Big time wins from Alabama and Stanford proved why they’re the top of their conferences and Notre Dame finally found some life in it’s offense following a change at quarterback. There’s only been four weeks worth of games which means we are just getting started with an exciting and drama-filled season.

And before we release the newest edition of our New Year’s Six Projections, here are some games to watch that will and could play a role in next weeks projections:

• Ohio State and Penn State go head-to-head in a game that will give one of those teams the leading edge in the Big Ten East.
• West Virginia takes on Texas Tech as the Mountaineers are just barely on the outside of our projections.
• Stanford finds themselves in another battle, going up against Notre Dame. A win for Stanford puts them in more playoff talks; a loss for the Irish could eliminate any chance at the playoff.
• Washington battles BYU, a team that has already proven worthy of knocking off a top team in the nation.

From heavyweight conference matchups to playoff implications, there is a lot to watch for in Week 5. But for now, let’s take a look at our current New Year’s Six Projections: