2024 Week 6 12-team College Football Playoff prediction

In Week 6, the No. 1, No. 4, and No. 9, teams in the country all lost, and all three were SEC teams. With Alabama, Tennessee, and Missouri all losing, the Big Ten had a chance to grab control of four or even five spots in the top 12 of this Week’s AP Poll. However, those weren’t the only upsets on Saturday. 

The Big Ten’s best, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Oregon, and No. 4 Penn State, continued to cruise through their conference schedule, the Buckeyes dismantling Iowa, the Ducks rolling over Michigan State on Friday night, and the Nittany Lions stomping UCLA at Beaver Stadium on Saturday afternoon. However, the next tier of Big Ten teams, No. 10 Michigan and No. 11 USC, both lost on the road. 

Michigan and Washington met in Seatle for a rematch of last year’s national championship game, though neither team had the same head coach, the same quarterback, nor many of the pieces that led them there a year ago. The Wolverines struggled with Alex Orji starting at quarterback, so Sherrone Moore turned to Jack Tuttle, his third QB of the season, and the offense didn’t look much better. The Huskies got a measure of revenge with first-year head coach Jedd Fisch, winning 27-17 while Kalen DeBoer and Alabama lost to Vanderbilt in Nashville. 

Meanwhile in Minnesota, Lincoln Riley fell to 1-2 in Big Ten play and 3-2 overall, dropping out of the AP Top 25 with a 24-17 last-minute loss to the Golden Gophers. USC hosts Penn State next week, providing a sliver of hope to get back into the College Football Playoff picture, but the No. 4 Nittany Lions should roll. 

For now, that group of three will figure prominently in any 12-team CFP prediction, and in many cases, Ohio State will have the No. 1 spot, but that could change after the Buckeyes and Ducks meet at Autzen stadium next week. 

Three SEC contenders suffered losses, but my CFP prediction still includes the same 12 teams from last week because when everybody loses, everybody can only drop so far.