Week 9 should be the week that we separate the contenders from the pretenders. Throughout Saturday’s slate, Sports Illustrated will give an updated look at the playoff seeding and matchups. Here’s everything you need to know about the current CFP race:
Update at 11 p.m. ET Saturday:
After a chaotic Week 8 in college football saw the CFP bracket continually evolve over the course of the weekend, Week 9 has been fairly calm and straightforward by comparison.
The biggest result of the prime-time games likely came at Death Valley as Texas A&M further shored up its credentials with a resounding win over LSU. That keeps the Aggies as the SEC’s remaining undefeated team and in a tie with Alabama (which escaped a trip to South Carolina) atop the league standings. Mike Elko’s team has some really impressive victories going into November and has several very winnable games to close out the season. After nearly getting to Atlanta last year, it would be a surprise if A&M doesn’t make it to the conference championship game with a shot at earning an automatic bid. As it stands, the Aggies also tightened their grip on a quarterfinal bye and are shaping up to have the program’s best season since 1998.
Update at 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday:
One of the big questions the selection committee will have to answer when they meet for the first time is what to do with the Big 12. It probably won’t matter down the road, but there’s an interesting case brewing over whether they should have undefeated BYU as the top-ranked team in the conference or if that is actually Texas Tech. The two teams have a common data point having beaten Utah but also lack any fairly good wins.
The lone separating factor could be the Red Raiders’ convincing victory over Top 25–caliber Houston on the road, which for now gives them the edge over the undefeated Cougars by the slimmest of margins. Keep in mind that Tech lost its lone game with a backup quarterback in and had to go to its third-stringer in the blowout of Oklahoma State on Saturday. BYU fans won’t be happy to hear it—go ahead and play the Rodney Dangerfield line about no respect—but they can settle it on the field in two weeks when they go to Lubbock.
Update at 3:45 p.m. ET Saturday:
With a win at Oklahoma, you can just about book Mississippi’s ticket to the playoff. The Rebels don’t have any other ranked opponents left on the docket, played well in their only (narrow) loss on the road to a fellow Top 10 team and now have another quality win by going into Norman, Okla., to beat the Sooners. That’s great news for everybody in Oxford, Miss., not so great for schools hoping to hire head coach Lane Kiffin.
Elsewhere, the Group of 5 race took a little bit of a turn as Memphis stunned South Florida late for one of the bigger wins in school history. Add that to the win over SEC foe Arkansas and the Tigers remain alive in the American and CFP races. Right now though, Tulane will get the slight edge with its two power-conference victories and a loss to Ole Miss that continues to look better and better.
Update at 11 a.m. ET Saturday:
We’re just two weeks away from the selection committee meeting in Dallas, which means every game’s importance ramps up several notches for teams in the running to make the bracket. Saturday features plenty of tricky tests on the road for a slate of contenders, too. As of now, there are not a ton of changes from the way last weekend wrapped up, but that does not figure to be the case after the first set of kickoffs in the noon ET slate.
Live Week 9 College Football Playoff Bracket
- Ohio State
- Indiana
- Texas A&M
- Alabama
- Georgia
- Miami
- Mississippi
- Oregon
- Vanderbilt
- Georgia Tech
- Texas Tech
- Tulane
First Round
- No. 12 Tulane at No. 5 Georgia
- No. 11 Texas Tech at No. 6 Miami
- No. 10 Georgia Tech at No. 7 Mississippi
- No. 9 Vanderbilt at No. 8 Oregon
Quarterfinals
- Orange Bowl: No. 4 Alabama vs. winner of No. 12 Tulane at No. 5 Georgia
- Sugar Bowl: No. 3 Texas A&M vs. winner of No. 11 Texas Tech at No. 6 Miami
- Cotton Bowl: No. 2 Indiana vs. winner of No. 10 Georgia Tech at No. 7 Mississippi
- Rose Bowl: No. 1 Ohio State vs. winner of No. 9 Vanderbilt at No. 8 Oregon
No. 12 Tulane at No. 5 Georgia
After Memphis’s win over USF gave the Bulls their first conference loss, the Green Wave going to play at the Tigers in two weeks just became a contest with massive CFP implications. Tulane hasn’t been winning pretty, but it has the talent level and résumé to survive the brutal chase for the league title.
No. 11 Texas Tech at No. 6 Miami
A game against Oklahoma State is no spot to rush back starting QB Behren Morton if you’re Texas Tech, but that game against BYU looms large in the Big 12 race and you hope at some point he can be back next week to show what the team is capable of at the high end.
No. 10 Georgia Tech at No. 7 Mississippi
The Yellow Jackets took care of business as expected against a beat-up Syracuse and can start to look ahead to tougher competition. Meanwhile, the Rebels might want to start preparing the Grove to host a CFP first-round game in December. That could redefine what it means to tailgate and have a pregame party should it come to pass.
No. 9 Vanderbilt at No. 8 Oregon
The Ducks are going to have to come to terms that their seeding this season may be impacted by the inability to rack up any Top 25 wins. They have to hope USC and Washington keep winning to set up big-late season Big Ten games that can earn them some praise for the committee because just winning isn’t going to help move them up the rankings right now.
Orange Bowl: No. 4 Alabama
That was nearly another loss to an unranked opponent on the road at South Carolina, but the Tide found a way in the final few minutes. Lesson learned or simply the result of all those big games coming fast and furious? We’ll find out next week.
Sugar Bowl: No. 3 Texas A&M
All that stands between the Aggies and their first trip to Atlanta for the SEC title? Missouri with a third-string quarterback, a South Carolina side fighting to make a bowl, an FCS squad and a road trip to a Texas team that has serious issues (but could also be another résumé boost as a Top 25 team). A&M fans are highly skeptical and seem to be waiting for the bottom to fall out, but this is an excellent football team that is on the verge of locking up a playoff trip.
Cotton Bowl: No. 2 Indiana
On a fairly quiet week for the Big Ten, having Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff come to Bloomington, Ind., offered a nice opportunity for the Hoosiers to remind everyone just how good they are.
Rose Bowl: No. 1 Ohio State
There’s just one team left on the Buckeyes’ schedule with a winning record right now. Does this make for a November worth of tune-ups until season defining trips to Ann Arbor, Mich., and Indianapolis?
More College Football on Sports Illustrated
Listen to SI’s new college sports podcast, Others Receiving Votes, below or on Apple and Spotify. Watch the show on SI’s YouTube channel.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as College Football Playoff Bracket Week 9 Live Projections: Why Unbeaten Texas A&M Stays Put.