2024 12-team College Football Playoff rankings prediction after week four

Week four of college football has come and gone. So far, we’ve had several exciting appetizers, but the main course of the season is just starting to be served.

One of the most consequential games of the entire year is on the slate this weekend, when Georgia visits Alabama in Tuscaloosa. This is a huge litmus test early in the DeBoer era, and a prove-it game for Georgia to get over the hump against Alabama.

Elsewhere, Penn State will face a test with Illinois coming to town, and Oklahoma State will face off with Kansas State in a potentially consequential game for the Big 12 standings. There’s plenty to keep your eye on this week, in other words.

There’s been a bit of a shakeup from last week’s rankings after the action in week four. Let’s see how things shake out.

I'm becoming more settled on these being the four teams that the SEC gets into the playoff: Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and Ole Miss. There's a strong possibility that they eventually add a fifth, but for now I'm on four.

Here's how I think that happens: Alabama finishes 11-1, with a loss to Tennessee. Tennessee finishes 11-2, with two losses to Georgia—one in Athens, one in Atlanta. Georgia finishes 12-1, with a loss to Alabama in Tuscaloosa, and Ole Miss finishes 11-1 with a loss to Georgia in Oxford.

It would be tough to leave Ole Miss out at that record, but UGA is really their only big game. There's a chance UGA would be number one with that record, given who they would have beaten, but I have OSU running the table, so I don't know they move above an undefeated.

I've also added UCF as the Big 12 champion because I think that would be very entertaining. May it be!