The postseason is coming into much sharper focus after a wild Week 11 produced a host of memorable moments, a handful of key upsets and several incredible title-shifting outcomes.
Much of the focus will naturally start with the College Football Playoff and who can possibly take advantage of the ACC’s slipup Saturday when both Louisville and Virginia fell as home favorites to unranked opponents. The Big 12 feels fairly straightforward with Texas Tech looking like the class of the league no matter who is its opponent in the conference title game. There is a limited number of programs who could force the committee to include the Red Raiders and another Big 12 team.
Which brings us back to the most controversial projection: The ACC actually gets a second team into the field and it’s none other than … Miami. The Hurricanes were brought up several times by selection committee chair Mack Rhoades on Tuesday in respect for their talent, but he noted that consistency was a factor. Well, if they happen to win out, as is now projected, they would show that and secure wins over a pair of teams also in the CFP field. That is enough to give them a slight edge over any potential 10–2 or 9–3 teams, including Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, Utah and BYU.
That decision, in turn, causes plenty of fascinating matchups in the non-CFP bowls. Suddenly red-hot UConn gets maneuvered into the Cure Bowl to face Group of 5 bid candidate James Madison for example, while Hawai’i-Navy should be an offensive shootout on Christmas Eve at a completely packed stadium for the Hawaii Bowl. BYU and Virginia, potential playoff teams, meet in the Pop-Tarts Bowl, Iowa State–Northwestern stage a game full of grit in the Rate Bowl and Utah-Pitt should be plenty of fireworks in the Holiday Bowl.
Let’s also call attention to the current projection that the sport is going to be two teams short of reaching the full allotment of bowl-eligible teams. That’s great news for the FBS’s two newest teams in Missouri State and Delaware, which normally wouldn’t be eligible to make the postseason but would get preference over the plethora of 5–7 teams. Both wind up getting some decent matchups in the Salute to Veterans and Sports bowls.
With all that in mind, here is how Sports Illustrated sees the playoff and all of 35 bowl games coming together to form the postseason picture in 2025–26 after Week 11.
College Football Playoff Projected Rankings After Week 11
- Ohio State
- Alabama
- Texas A&M
- Indiana
- Georgia
- Mississippi
- Texas Tech
- Oregon
- Notre Dame
- Georgia Tech
- Miami
- South Florida
First Round
- No. 9 Notre Dame at No. 8 Oregon
- No. 10 Georgia Tech at No. 7 Texas Tech
- No. 11 Miami vs. No. 6 Mississippi
- No. 12 South Florida vs. No. 5 Georgia
Quarterfinals
- Orange Bowl: No. 4 Indiana vs. winner of No. 12 South Florida vs. No. 5 Georgia
- Cotton Bowl: No. 3 Texas A&M vs. winner of No. 11 Miami vs. No. 6 Mississippi
- Sugar Bowl: No. 2 Alabama vs. winner of No. 10 Georgia Tech at No. 7 Texas Tech
- Rose Bowl: No. 1 Ohio State vs. winner of No. 9 Notre Dame at No. 8 Oregon
Bowl Projections After Week 11
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as College Football Playoff and Bowl Projections After Week 11: Where to Slot Miami.
