The 2023 college football season now has five full weeks in the books and here’s the projected top four for the College Football Playoff after Week 5.
Things are getting more interesting with each week of the college football season. Week 5 didn’t have as many marquee matchups as Week 4, but it was just as consequential.
Duke nearly ended Notre Dame’s hope of making the College Football Playoff before a memorable run by Sam Hartman kept the hopes alive for the Fighting Irish.
Ole Miss kept itself in the mix but knocked out LSU in the process. There is still a slim path for LSU, but it’s very slim and would require a ton of chaos.
As it stands right now, the Big Ten, SEC, ACC, Pac-12, and Big 12 all have teams that seem poised to finish unbeaten or potentially with one loss.
The top four hasn’t changed much in recent weeks. Ohio State is the No. 5 team right now, followed by the cluster of Pac-12 teams (Oregon, Washington, USC), Oklahoma (Big 12) and then Notre Dame. Penn State also controls its own destiny.
We have a long way to go but here’s the projected top four for the College Football Playoff after Week 5 of the 2023 season.
4. Florida State
The Seminoles have a few challenging games left on the schedule with Miami, Duke, and Florida still left, as well as a potential berth in the ACC championship game.
Florida State looked vulnerable against Clemson and Boston College. Both of those games were on the road and the toughest on the regular season schedule are at home with the exception of Florida.
Jordan Travis and FSU control their own destiny but with all five leagues looking to have a legit contender, Florida State doesn’t have much room for error.
3. Texas Longhorns
Kansas was undefeated going into the matchup with third-ranked Texas and in the past, this is the kind of game that would have given the Longhorns trouble.
Not this time around though.
Texas flat-out dominated the Jawyhawks and rolled to a 40-14 win. Quinn Ewers completed 25-of-35 passes for 325 yards and a touchdown. He also ran for 40 yards and scored twice. He did throw one interception, but Texas also rushed for over 300 yards.
Steve Sarkisian’s team totaled over 600 yards of total offense against a team ranked in the top 25. They also have a win over Alabama. So Texas is for real. Are they going to make the College Football Playoff?
The first of two possible games against Oklahoma this Saturday will be telling.
2. Michigan
After a 45-7 win over Nebraska on Saturday, Michigan football picked up double-digit first-place votes in the AP poll.
Urban Meyer and others thought that the Huskers would give the Wolverines a competitive game. Nebraska did have one of the best-rushing defenses in the country coming into Saturday’s matchup, as well as one of the best-rushing offenses. At least according to the stats.
It felt like Michigan took that to heart. The Wolverines ran for 249. They averaged 4.9 yards per attempt and Nebraska had 20 carries for 32 yards outside of a 74-yard touchdown run late in the game against Michigan’s backups.
Michigan has scored at least 30 points and has not allowed more than seven points in any game this season. Only two teams have scored in the first half and after the touchdown scored by Rutgers last week to start the game, Michigan scored 76 consecutive points against the Scarlet Knights and Nebraska on their way to their 17th straight Big Ten win.
Ohio State might need to beat Michigan to make the College Football Playoff and that’s a much different thing than beating Notre Dame.
1. Georgia
The Bulldogs survived on Saturday at Auburn. There’s nothing wrong with doing that but this Georgia team doesn’t look quite as good as it was the past two years.
However, in terms of the College Football Playoff, that doesn’t really matter. Georgia just needs to keep winning and I don’t see the win streak ending anytime soon. Kentucky will be a test this week.
Tennessee and Florida also loom on the schedule, as well as what’s likely another trip to the SEC championship game.
Alabama, Ole Miss, or LSU could be the opponent, but it feels like Georgia will emerge from the SEC once again. The Bulldogs haven’t been quite as dominant, but they deserve to be No. 1 until someone beats them.