How another round of top-10 losses shakes up playoff, bowl matchups

Another week, different radical of top-10 teams goes down.

No. 2 Miami, No. 5 Ole Miss, No. 7 Texas Tech and No. 10 LSU each mislaid this weekend, with No. 4 Texas A&M surviving a adjacent telephone against Arkansas.

As a result, the postseason representation has been shuffled again, with changes astatine the apical of the College Football Playoff bracket and passim the vessel schedule.

As with past season's inaugural 12-team CFP, the 5 highest-ranked league champions, positive the adjacent 7 highest-ranked teams, volition marque the field. Unlike past year, the 4 highest-ranked teams (not needfully league champions) volition beryllium awarded first-round byes. The different 8 teams volition conscionable successful first-round games astatine the field sites of seeds Nos. 5 done 8.

From there, the quarterfinals and semifinals volition beryllium played successful what had been the New Year's Six bowls, with this season's nationalist title crippled scheduled for Jan. 19 astatine Miami's Hard Rock Stadium.

All of that is conscionable the extremity of the iceberg, though. Apart from the playoff is the 35-game slate of vessel games, opening with the Cricket Celebration Bowl connected Dec. 13.

We're present for each of it.

ESPN vessel gurus Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach are projecting each postseason matchup, including their breakdowns of however the playoff volition play out, and we'll beryllium backmost each week of the play until the existent matchups are set.

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Playoff picks | Quarterfinals
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College Football Playoff

First-round games (at field sites)

Friday, Dec. 19/Saturday, Dec. 20

Times and networks TBD.

Bonagura: No. 12 Memphis astatine No. 5 Oregon
Schlabach: No. 12 South Florida astatine No. 5 Georgia

Bonagura: No. 11 Texas Tech astatine No. 6 Georgia
Schlabach: No. 11 Texas Tech astatine No. 6 Oregon

Bonagura: No. 10 BYU astatine No. 7 Ole Miss
Schlabach: No. 10 BYU astatine No. 7 Ole Miss

Bonagura: No. 9 Miami astatine No. 8 Georgia Tech
Schlabach: No. 9 Miami astatine No. 8 Georgia Tech

First-round breakdown

Bonagura: Let's tackle the Group of 5 champion archetypal due to the fact that determination were 2 results that could beryllium consequential travel enactment day. UNLV, the past undefeated squad successful the Mountain West, mislaid to Boise State, and Memphis suffered its archetypal nonaccomplishment of the season, leaving Navy arsenic the lone remaining undefeated Group of 5 team. If Boise State ends up being the people of the Mountain West, that works retired good for the American, arsenic South Florida handled the Broncos easy to statesman the year, giving the Bulls an important head-to-head win.

Then determination were the large boys that went down: Miami and Ole Miss. I person some of them inactive successful the playoff for now, but their losses evidently chipped distant astatine some teams' borderline for error. We're astatine a constituent successful the play wherever a batch of comparisons go circular and it volition stay that mode for respective weeks.

Schlabach: There's plentifulness of parity successful assemblage shot this season, and it has made for immoderate chaotic Saturdays successful the archetypal 8 weeks of the schedule. Four much AP top-10 teams fell this past weekend: Miami, Ole Miss, Texas Tech and LSU.

The Hurricanes' 24-21 nonaccomplishment to Louisville astatine location Friday nighttime mightiness person been the astir su...