On paper, Week 9 didn’t promise much drama. It featured just one matchup of top 15 teams — the No. 8 LSU Tigers facing the No. 14 Texas A&M Aggies. But chaos has reigned through the first eight weeks of the season.
However, Saturday, the high-stakes drama was reserved for the World Series.
The Oregon Ducks, No. 1 in the AP poll, cruised. Two other top-five teams — the No. 4 Ohio State Buckeyes and No. 5 Texas Longhorns — got by tough tests, but kept their College Football Playoff hopes alive. Thanks to a big day from running back Damien Martinez, the Miami Hurricanes — the ACC’s top playoff hope at this point — rolled this week.
The season’s two biggest surprise teams — the BYU Cougars and Indiana Hoosiers — remained undefeated. Both get tough tests next week. The Cougars face their in-state rivals the Utah Utes while the Hoosiers travel to face the Michigan State Spartans.
Here are our experts’ top 12 College Football Playoff picks:
Andrea Adelson: 1. Oregon 2. Georgia 3. Miami 4. BYU 5. Penn State 6. Indiana 7. Ohio State 8. Texas 9. Texas A&M 10. Clemson 11. Notre Dame 12. Boise State
Kyle Bonagura: 1. Oregon 2. Georgia 3. Miami 4. BYU 5. Indiana 6. Penn State 7. Ohio State 8. Texas 9. Notre Dame 10. Texas A&M 11. Iowa State 12. Boise State
Bill Connelly: 1. Oregon 2. Miami 3. Georgia 4. BYU 5. Penn State 6. Indiana 7. Texas 8. Ohio State 9. Clemson 10. Iowa State 11. Pittsburgh 12. Army
David Hale: 1. Oregon 2. Georgia 3. Miami 4. BYU 5. Texas 6. Ohio State 7. Penn State 8. Tennessee 9. Pittsburgh 10. Texas A&M 11. Notre Dame 12. Boise State
Eli Lederman: 1. Oregon 2. Georgia 3. Miami 4. BYU 5. Texas 6. Ohio State 7. Tennessee 8. Penn State 9. Notre Dame 10. Texas A&M 11. Indiana 12. Boise State
Chris Low: 1. Oregon 2. Georgia 3. Miami 4. BYU 5. Penn State 6. Texas 7. Ohio State 8. Tennessee 9. Indiana 10. Notre Dame 11. Texas A&M 12. Boise State
Max Olson: 1. Georgia. 2. Oregon. 3. Miami. 4. Iowa State. 5. Texas. 6. Ohio State. 7. Penn State. 8. Clemson. 9. Tennessee. 10. Indiana. 11. Texas A&M. 12. Boise State
Adam Rittenberg: 1. Oregon 2. Georgia 3. Miami 4. BYU 5. Penn State 6. Texas 7. Ohio State 8. Indiana 9. Tennessee 10. Texas A&M 11. Notre Dame 12. Boise State
Mark Schlabach: 1. Oregon 2. Georgia 3. Miami 4. BYU 5. Penn State 6. Ohio State 7. Texas 8. Clemson 9. Indiana 10. Texas A&M 11.Notre Dame 12. Boise State
Jake Trotter: 1. Oregon 2. Georgia 3. Miami 4. BYU 5. Penn State 6. Ohio State 7. Texas 8. Tennessee 9. Indiana 10. Pittsburgh 11. Notre Dame 12. Boise State
Paolo Uggetti: 1. Oregon 2. Georgia 3. Miami 4. BYU 5. Ohio State 6. Penn State 7. Texas 8. Indiana 9. Clemson 10. Texas A&M 11. Notre Dame 12. Boise State
Dave Wilson: 1. Oregon 2. Georgia 3. Miami 4. BYU 5. Indiana 6. Penn State 7. Ohio State 8. Texas 9. Notre Dame 10. Texas A&M 11. Iowa State 12. Boise State
As we survey the damage from the latest games on Saturday, let's look ahead to the AP top 25 college football rankings heading into Week 10Who's moving up? Who'
Penn State football coach James Franklin apologized Saturday for the way he handled a media availability last week, during which he chose not to answer question
In a fall that has been full of wild Saturday's, October 26 wasn't overly insane by any stretch of the immagination, but was impactful for the outlook of the Co
David Hale, ESPN Staff WriterOct 27, 2024, 12:37 AM ETCloseCollege football reporter.Joined ESPN in 2012.Graduate of the University of Delaware.At first, it was