Week 9 2024 12-team College Football Playoff projection after a week with no upsets

Over the past several weeks, chaos has been the norm in college football. That wasn't the case in week nine of the season, though.

Only one ranked team fell to a lower-ranked team this weekend. What's more, that game wasn't really an upset as No. 14 Texas A&M was favored to beat No. 8 LSU in College Station. Therefore, the Aggies' 38-23 win at home didn't really do much to set the football world on its side.

We did have some close calls by playoff contenders, though. One such instance was in Columbus, Ohio where No. 4 Ohio State had to fend off a tough Nebraska team. In fact, an upset was brewing when the Cornhuskers had the ball late in the fourth quarter with a chance to win the game but they couldn't drive the field for one final touchdown as they fell 21-17.

No. 3 Penn State looked far from dominant this past weekend as well. They led Wisconsin just 14-13 on the road to begin the fourth quarter. However, the Nittany Lions would prevail 28-13 a 14-0 edge in the final frame.

No. 5 Texas kept No. 25 Vanderbilt at arm's length for the entire game on Saturday. A late Vandy TD cut the final margin to 27-24 making the final score very respectable for the Commodores.

In the Sunflower Showdown, No. 16, Kansas State had to fight its tail off to beat rival Kansas 29-27. In fact, the Wildcats needed a 51-yard field goal in the final two minutes to defeat the 2-6 Jayhawks.

So how did a week of close calls but no upsets change our College Football Playoff projection? Let's take a look.

This week, many will have Texas A&M in their projected field and that's understandable given that the Aggies are now 7-1 on the season and ranked 10th in the newest poll. However, I don't see the Aggies beating Texas in the last game of the regular season, even though that game will be at Kyle Field, and a two-loss Aggie team that doesn't play for the SEC title likely won't be in the playoff field.

BYU sneaks into my projection this week to give the Big 12 a second team in the field. The Cougars do not play another ranked team in the regular season so they seem destined to head into the Big 12 Championship Game undefeated. Even if they lose that game, (it appears they will play either Iowa State or Kansas State) they likely would have done enough to earn a bid by virtue of a perfect regular season in a power conference.

Also, the story of the year in college football, Indiana, is deserving of an at-large bid at the moment but there just isn't room for them in the current field. They are the first team left out but they will get their shot to prove their worthiness when they play at Ohio State on November 23 in what will be the biggest game in program history. If they win that game, they'll almost certainly head to the Big Ten title game and secure a playoff spot at the same time.

This coming week will have some huge games including Ohio State at Penn State, Oregon at Michigan, Florida and Georgia on a neutral field, Clemson at Louisville, and a game that could be massive in the ACC race, No. 18 Pitt at No. 20 SMU.

So check in next week to see how the playoff field shifts. What's more, on Tuesday of next week, we will get our first official playoff rankings from the selection committee and that will certainly spark some heated debate around the nation.