College Football Playoff rankings 2023: Projected Week 10 Top 25 after Oklahoma upset, Georgia dominates

Projected Top 25 College Football Playoff rankings after Week 9: No. 10-9

10. Penn State Nittany Lions

Every part of me wanted to have Penn State outside of the Top 10 of these initial CFP rankings projections. Yes, the Nittany Lions were dominant to start the season. But after watching the offense look hapless against the best team James Franklin’s group has faced followed by the defense allowing Indiana to move the ball against them, something the Hoosiers haven’t been capable of all year.

But Oregon State's loss just means it's not all that feasible to have any of the other teams behind PSU jump the Nittany Lions, so they stay put at No. 10.

The more this season has gone on, though, the more flawed that Penn State looks. Perhaps that's the grind of the season, but it's looking more and more like the ceiling for this team is incredibly defined. And unless Drew Allar and the offense build off the game-winning deep touchdown pass, it's also hard to see that changing.

9. Oklahoma Sooners

After Brent Venables’ Sooners got past the rival Texas Longhorns in Red River, everyone looking at Oklahoma’s schedule saw a path to a 12-0 regular season. Someone who didn’t see that was Kansas Jayhawks head coach Lance Leipold, and he let Boomer know that on Saturday in Lawrence. 

Even with Jalon Daniels out of action once again as he continues to deal with a back injury, Kansas put forth a spirited two-way effort, raising questions about the Oklahoma defense (particularly against the run) and forcing Dillon Gabriel into one of his worst games of the year. 

The end result was a 38-33 thriller with Kansas pulling off the upset. Now, the Sooners will fall behind Texas despite the head-to-head win and will have to run the table in the regular season and the Big 12 Championship Game just to have a chance of ending up returning to the College Football Playoff. 

There is certainly not a less-publicized Top 10 team in college football than the Oregon State Beavers, but Jonathan Smith’s team has more than earned their keep to get to this point and should very easily earn a spot well inside the Top 10 of the initial CFP rankings as well. 

On Saturday night in Week 9, though, the Beavs were giving us a little Pac-12 After Dark as they went on the road to face an upstart Arizona Wildcats team that has been surging and causing problems for teams in the conference as of late. Case in point, the Wildcats blew out a Washington State team that handed Oregon State its lone loss of the season. 

With wins over UCLA and Utah to their credit, though, there is no questioning the validity of the Beavers and their well-balanced approach on both sides of the ball.