College Football Playoff rankings: Projected top 4 after Week 2

Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney. (Photo by Michael Zagaris/Getty Images)
Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney. (Photo by Michael Zagaris/Getty Images) /
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After Week 2, the College Football Playoff picture is still a long way from taking shape, but it’s pretty safe to say Clemson is the overwhelming favorite.

With a convincing road win at Iowa State, Louisiana-Lafayette makes their case to be among the top four in the College Football Playoff rankings. The Ragin Cajuns join Army, Marshall and BYU as the front-runners to make the four-team field.

Okay, no, we aren’t living in Bizarro World, although those aforementioned four teams are off to a great start, they have as much of a chance at making the playoff as you or me do in suiting up for Clemson or Alabama.

Speaking of which, it’s still Clemson who has a stranglehold on the top spot after their season-opening win vs. Wake Forest. Yes, it’s incredibly early to be talking about the playoff, but what else are we going to talk about? After the longest offseason of our lives, I’m excited to talk about the actual on-field play.

Their season doesn’t start for two more weeks, but I have Alabama winning the SEC and making the College Football Playoff after losing the SEC West to eventual national champion LSU last year.

Clemson and Alabama could be heading toward their third meeting in the National Championship Game.

Joining those two superpowers is Texas who I picked to win the Big 12 and Sam Ehlinger looks like he’s going to end his time in Austin with the Big 12 title that’s eluded him to this point and snap Oklahoma’s reign as conference champs. Though Spencer Rattler and the Sooners should put up monster numbers all year, I have questions about the run game and the overall defense they’ll put on the field every game.

And the fourth team in the playoff picture after Week 2 is the Florida Gators who will lose to Alabama in the SEC Championship Game but that will be their only loss of the year and it won’t be much of a penalty in the eyes of the committee.

The College Football Playoff picture after Week 2 has Clemson and Alabama on a collision course for a third National Championship Game

  1. Clemson
  2. Alabama
  3. Texas
  4. Florida

The Gators will make it while Notre Dame and Oklahoma are the first two teams out, and Cincinnati makes it close, but their strength of schedule keeps them behind the big boys from the Power 5.

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