The Crimson Tide began the year as the No. 2 ranked team behind Clemson but has since overtaken the Tigers in both the Associated Press and the coaches’ poll. Alabama is 5-0 and 2-0 in SEC play and takes its number one status to College Station, Texas, determined to strengthen its playoffs bid. The meeting between the No. 24 ranked Aggies and the Crimson Tide is one of the four top-25 ranked matchups of the weekend, but is also the more lopsided of the quartet....

The game off the field has changed. Name, Image, and Likeness remains a hot topic one year after its inception. Conferences are still playing musical chairs, and College Football Playoff expansion is an ever-present debate. What about the game on the field? Sporting News is ready for the ninth season of the College Football Playoff era. Defending national champion Georgia became the third consecutive SEC school to win the CFP championship last season after beating Alabama, and those schools are among the heavy title favorites along with Ohio State....

The lines and totals listed below are the Las Vegas consensus as of Friday afternoon. You can check out updated college football point spreads and totals on our live odds page . Iowa State vs. TCU (-34, 68), 12 p.m. ET, ABC One of our guys has a lean on the side, the other a lean on the total, but unfortunately the plays don’t necessarily correlate. Read up on both and decide who you agree with....

The Tigers’ 29-game winning run came to an end in New Orleans, relinquishing the national title after losing 42-25 to LSU in the College Football Playoff championship game. However, Clemson has been installed as the oddsmakers’ favorite to reclaim the title next season. According to Caesars Sportsbook in Las Vegas, the Tigers are a 2/1 favorite ahead of Alabama at 4/1, with newly-crowned champions LSU and Ohio State at 9/2 and 7/1 respectively....

BENDER: 7 biggest games in season’s second half The best game of the week? A top-10 showdown between No. 9 UCLA and No. 10 Oregon in a battle of Chip Kelly’s former and current teams. That is sure to create more changes within the College Football Playoff pecking order. There are some tough games to pick against the spread. A look at our track record this season: Straight up: 106-27, ....

Alabama’s 48-45 loss to Auburn and Minnesota’s 38-17 loss to Wisconsin trimmed the potential Playoff field down to seven teams with one loss or fewer. There’s still room for the chaos factor in the final week of the season, however. MORE: How Alabama’s loss to Iron Bowl affects Playoff outlook Sporting News breaks down the College Football Playoff heading into conference championship weekend: College Football Playoff: Four in 1. Ohio State (12-0) The Buckeyes should maintain the top spot after a decisive 56-27 victory against Michigan on Saturday, which sealed a perfect season in Big Ten play ahead of a third straight conference championship game berth....

That was 1998, when Peyton Manning’s successor, Tee Martin, led a charmed season in which the Volunteers won the first national title of the Bowl Championship Series era under coach Phillip Fulmer. They weren’t No. 1 in the AP Poll that year until Nov. 9, 1998 – two days after Michigan State, led by coach Nick Saban knocked Ohio State from the top spot. Now, everything is in place to make that happen....

Once again, the top five teams remained intact after a mostly uneventful weekend: No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Clemson, No. 4 Ohio State and No. 5 Texas A&M. Florida, who remained steady as the second team out heading into Week 15, suffered a stunning upset against LSU, giving the Gators their second loss and likely ending any Playoff hopes they might have had. That said, they only fell one spot in the rankings, setting up the potential for a play-in upset over the Crimson Tide....

The Horned Frogs in particular face a precarious situation ahead of the final three weeks of the regular season. Any loss by TCU could spell the end of its CFP hopes, which are kept alive by its status as a potentially undefeated Power 5 conference champion. Tennessee followed TCU at No. 5 overall; the Volunteers have perhaps the easiest path to the Playoff, needing only wins over South Carolina and Vanderbilt in their final two games to head into conference championship weekend with an 11-1 record....

The rankings were announced Tuesday night. Here they are: Alabama (9-0)Notre Dame (10-0)Clemson (9-1)Ohio State (5-0)Texas A&M (7-1)Florida (8-1)Iowa State (8-2)Cincinnati (8-0)Georgia (6-2)Miami (8-1)Oklahoma (7-2)Indiana (6-1)Coastal Carolina (10-0)Northwestern (5-1)USC (4-0)Iowa (5-2)North Carolina (7-3)BYU (9-1)Louisiana (9-1)Texas (6-3)Colorado (4-0)Oklahoma State (5-2))N. C. State (8-3)Tulsa (6-1)Missouri (5-3) Alabama has been asked No. 1 in the CFP rankings 21 times now, more than all other teams combined at 19 times ranked at the top spot....

Sporting News’ annual preseason bowl projections are here, and our College Football Playoff picks for 2022-23 are the usual suspects again. This is the ninth year of the playoff. MORE: SN’s 2022 Preseason Preview The College Football Playoff semifinals will be on Dec. 31 this season. Those semifinals will be played at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta and the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz. The College Football Playoff championship game is on Jan....

How do these teams stack up? Who has the best shot of staying perfect come Selection Sunday in December? Here is a rundown of the current undefeated teams, which are spread across eight conferences. MORE: Week 7 picks against the spread | Debating LSU, USC openings | Bowl projections 1. Georgia (7-0) Best win: Georgia 37, Arkansas 0 Georgia blitzed Arkansas at home in early October. Arkansas entered the game ranked No....

Oklahoma needed overtime to shake off Army in a 28-21 overtime thriller, which prompts some questions about the Sooners heading into the heart of Big 12 play. Otherwise, it was business as usual for top contenders Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Georgia. There were still several overreactions, though. Here are the 10 biggest from Week 4: MORE: SN’s Week 5 Power Rankings OSU-Penn State, game of the year! BUY. ESPN’s “College GameDay” crew will be there, and they should be....

TOP 25 Thursday | Aug. 29 North Carolina at (8) South Carolina | 6 p.m. | ESPN (16) Utah State at Utah | 8 p.m. | Fox Sports 1 Ole Miss at (23) Vanderbilt | 9:15 p.m. | ESPN Friday | Aug. 30 North Dakota State at (12) Kansas State | 8:30 p.m. | Fox Sports 1 Saturday | Aug. 31 Buffalo at (3) Ohio State | noon | ESPN2 Toledo at (9) Florida | 12:21 p....

There isn’t much movement in anticipation of the No. 1-vs. No.-2 showdown between LSU and Alabama in Week 11. The Tigers and Crimson Tide both have Playoff spots for now, though Oregon is on a surge in the Pac-12 after a 56-24 victory against USC. Memphis moved into our New Year’s Day 6 projections after a 54-48 victory against SMU. MORE: Week 11 Playoff picture The 2019 college football postseason schedule features 40 bowl games between FBS teams, with the finale at the national title game on Jan....