College Football Playoff rankings 2022: Projected Week 11 Top 25 after LSU upsets Alabama, Georgia routs Tennessee, Clemson upset

Projected College Football Playoff rankings after Week 10: No. 16-15

16. Tulane Green Wave

Week after week, Willie Fritz has the Green Wave looking on a surefire path to being the highest-ranked Group of 5 team at the end of the season and punching Tulane’s shocking ticket to a New Year’s Six Game. On Saturday, they went on the road to face a feisty Tulsa team and they never looked out of control in the matchup with Tyjae Spears and Shaadie Clayton-Johnson running all over the Golden Hurricane and the defense stepping up.

After 60 minutes, it was a 27-13 victory on the road for the Green Wave and, while that might not be the biggest victory, it’s all about picking up wins for Tulane at this point and they’ve been doing that virtually nonstop as of late, hence their place in the rankings. If they keep this up, it’s really just a shame the Playoff hasn’t expanded yet as Tulane would be in because of their spot among Group of 5 teams.

15. North Carolina Tar Heels

My god, the UNC defense can’t even look good against a Virginia offense that has been a disaster for most of the first season under head coach Tony Elliott. The Cavaliers ran the ball seemingly at will on the Tar Heels. The good news for Mack Brown, however, is that he has Drake Maye at quarterback this season and the Heisman dark horse, even if he didn’t have his best game, continued to be a marvel as a redshirt freshman and guided the team to its eighth win of the year.

Admittedly, the 31-28 final score is a bit misleading due to the fact that UVA got a late score before failing to recover an onside kick. Even still, the Tar Heels might be the most confusing one-loss team in the country this season. The fact that remains, though, is they are a one-loss team playing an ACC schedule. They’ll be tested by dates with Wake Forest and NC State looming but they have earned their keep to this point.