SCOUTING REPORTS
COTTON BOWL
1. OHIO STATE
4. NOTRE DAME
ORANGE BOWL
2. AUBURN
3. TCU
Year One of the College Football Playoff went rather well. Ohio State, a team that lost early but appeared to be playing the best, most-dynamic football at season's end, got a chance to prove its mettle on the field, which the Buckeyes did by beating Alabama and Oregon. The new system brought with it a selection committee that was free enough to drop undefeated FSU to third in the rankings, which was the right move (the Seminoles often looked shaky) but would have been unthinkable under the BCS. That's how it's supposed to work, right?
Sort of. Baylor and TCU were one-loss teams, like three of the four who made the playoff, yet neither Big 12 power was given a shot. This didn't feel quite right, but the reality is that someone is always going to be left out. Even in an eight-team bracket—an expansion many see as inevitable—there will be little difference between, and much debate about, who's No. 8 and who's No. 9. But the debate is key: It reflects possibility and passion. It gives the regular season meaning. It makes early-August predictions about the Top 25 teams and the four-team playoff field a spark for study and discussion (and maybe even ridicule). Let the arguments begin.
PROJECTED STANDINGS
SEC
East
1. Georgia
2. Missouri
3. Tennessee
4. Florida
5. South Carolina
6. Kentucky
7. Vanderbilt
West
1. Auburn
2. Alabama
3. Ole Miss
4. Arkansas
5. LSU
6. Mississippi State
7. Texas A&M
ACC
Atlantic
1. Florida State
2. Clemson
3. Louisville
4. N.C. State
5. Boston College
6. Wake Forest
7. Syracuse
Coastal
1. Georgia Tech
2. Virginia Tech
3. Pittsburgh
4. Duke
5. Miami
6. North Carolina
7. Virginia
BIG 12
1. TCU
2. Baylor
3. Oklahoma
4. Oklahoma State
5. West Virginia
6. Kansas State
7. Texas
8. Texas Tech
9. Iowa State
10. Kansas
BIG TEN
East
1. Ohio State
2. Michigan State
3. Penn State
4. Michigan
5. Maryland
6. Rutgers
7. Indiana
West
1. Wisconsin
2. Nebraska
3. Minnesota
4. Iowa
5. Northwestern
6. Illinois
7. Purdue
PAC 12
North
1. Oregon
2. Stanford
3. Washington
4. California
5. Washington State
6. Oregon State
South
1. USC
2. UCLA
3. Arizona
4. Arizona State
5. Utah
6. Colorado
SI.COM
Read about this year's impact transfers, freshmen to watch and playoff-shaping games, as well as conference-by-conference breakdowns and our preseason All-America team, beginning on Aug. 6 at SI.com/college-football
PHOTO
JOE ROBINS/GETTY IMAGES (OHIO STATE)
PHOTO
DALE ZANINE/USA TODAY SPORTS (AUBURN)
PHOTO
KEVIN JAIRAJ/USA TODAY SPORTS (TCU)
PHOTO
TODD ROSENBERG FOR SPORTS ILLUSTRATED (NOTRE DAME)