Projected College Football Playoff rankings after Week 9: No. 20-19
20. Wake Forest Demon Deacons
If you take away the third quarter in Louisville on Saturday, then Wake Forest might’ve had a chance to remain a Top 10 team in the country. Instead, Sam Hartman and the Demon Deacons turned the ball over an unreal six times in the 15-minute frame and that allowed the Cardinals to essentially run away with the game at home, handing Wake a resounding 48-21 loss.
This was by far the worst that we’ve seen the Wake Forest offense look this season, including when they went up against the vaunted Clemson defense. By any measured estimation, this was a blip on the radar for Dave Clawson’s team, but it’s definitely a costly one as they no l0nger hold the distinction of being a one-loss team tat this point.
19. Tulane Green Wave
Don’t look now, but Willie Fritz’s Green Wave team is now in sole possession of first place in the American after Week 9 and they didn’t even have to lift a finger as the team was idle in Week 9. But with Cincinnati going down, Tulane now controls their own destiny and has already passed several tests within the conference to this point.
Tulane still has some work to do to punch their ticket to the AAC Championship Game and to mover higher in the rankings but they sit at 7-1 right now, even if their lone loss was an inexplicable performance at home against Southern Miss. Even still, the Green Wave will be at Tulsa next week before seeing a tough finishing stretch vs UCF, vs SMU and at Cincinnati.