Playoff Projection: Alabama, Oregon ahead of pack
Oregon's decisive win at then-No. 19 Washington on Saturday gave the Ducks a victory against their strongest opponent so far in 2013, and it also impressed the Football Four Playoff Projection panel.
Oregon earned its highest vote count of the season this week and appeared on every panelist's ballot for the first time. The Ducks earned 50 voting points, six better than their previous high earned after Week 6. Oregon was second to Alabama's 60 points, followed by Clemson at 29 and Ohio State at 15. Alabama's total was one point greater than last week and three off its season-high. Clemson's total was unchanged, and Ohio State was up three points from Week 6.
PREVIOUS PROJECTIONS: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6
So far this season, Alabama, Oregon, Clemson and Ohio State have accumulated 1,014 of a possible 1,120 voting points, roughly 91%.
"Really there are only a few games left the rest of the season that could knock any of them out of the top four spots," said panelist Ryan Dunleavy of New Jersey Press Media. "The first is Clemson-Florida State this Saturday, and the winner will almost definitely end up No. 3 in my rankings next week. That matchup is as good as a playoff game for me."
The gains of the top four teams were partly the result of losses by Stanford and Georgia, which received no votes from the panel for the first time this season.
Based on the votes of our 16-person panel, if the playoff were to be set today, the semifinal pairings would be:
No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 4 Ohio State
No. 2 Oregon vs. No. 3 Clemson
Four points are awarded for a first-place vote, three points for a No. 2, two for No. 3 and one for a No. 4. Those points are then summed for each team that received a vote. Here are this week's complete results:
1. Alabama (60), 2. Oregon (50), 3. Clemson (29), 4. Ohio State (15), 5. Florida State (3), 6. Missouri (2), 7. Texas A&M (1).
Here is the running tally of points this season (out of 1120):
1. Alabama (406), 2. Oregon (284), 3. Clemson (215), 4. Ohio State (109), 5. LSU (26), 6. (tie) Georgia, Stanford (25), 8. Texas A&M (7), 9. Florida State (6), 10 (tie), Michigan, UCLA, Washington (4), 13. Florida State (3), 14. (tie) Missouri, Ole Miss (2), 16. Baylor (1).
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