College Football Playoff Projections 2018: Contenders make Week 10 statements

Statement Saturday didn’t provide the College Football Playoff shakeup that was expected; instead, it was the contenders who made statements.

The SEC was the center of the college football world this weekend with two Top 10 teams squaring off in de-facto divisional championship matchups. Those games largely turned into duds as both Alabama and Georgia made loud statements on the road in impressive wins over LSU and Kentucky, respectively.

Had those games gone differently, we would have seen a big playoff shakeup in Week 10; instead, the status quo remained largely intact.

LSU’s loss to Alabama means we are guaranteed a top four shakeup on Tuesday when the selection committee releases their second set of rankings. The Tigers were ranked third last week, and will tumble a bit down the rankings after a 29-0 loss to the Crimson Tide. There’s no shame in losing to Alabama, but two weeks worth of big talk meant little when the lights turned on in Death Valley and the Tigers had to lace them up against the top ranked challengers from Tuscaloosa.

Kentucky was also eliminated from playoff contention with a 34-17 loss to Georgia at home. The Wildcats have consistently outperformed their expectations this season, but they couldn’t quite get it done in Lexington on Saturday afternoon.

With LSU and Kentucky out, barring a chaotic final three weeks of the regular season, we seem to be down to 11 legitimate playoff contenders.

How will the committee rank the top four this week?