College Football Playoff: Experts Predict the Top Contenders After Week 5 Upsets

It also might have reset what we thought about other contenders. Four teams that were ranked in the top 10 of the AP poll and in last week's playoff picks -- LSU, Penn State, Georgia and Florida State -- lost.

While other CFP contenders had big weekends, Ohio State continued to quietly take care of business, this time in its first road game of the season. Julian Sayin threw for 208 yards and OSU cruised past Washington. While the Buckeyes travel to Illinois in two weeks, their next big test will likely come Nov. 1 when they host Penn State.

Those Nittany Lions looked like they would take a big step in the Big Ten hierarchy, rallying from a 17-3 deficit to force overtime against Oregon. However, after trading scores in the first overtime, Penn State QB Drew Allar threw a bad pick to end the game. Allar is now 0-6 against AP top 6-ranked opponents and coach James Franklin is 4-21 at Penn State when facing AP top-10 teams.

In the SEC, Ole Miss notched a big win for its eventual CFP case by beating LSU. Alabama, which lost its season opener to FSU, needed to avoid a second loss while facing Georgia. The Tide jumped out early like they did a year ago against the Bulldogs, and just like in 2024, they had to hold on for a tight win. Tide QB Ty Simpson threw for 276 yards and two scores.

Here are our experts' top 12 College Football Playoff picks:

Andrea Adelson: 1. Ohio State 2. Miami 3. Oregon 4. Ole Miss 5. Oklahoma 6. Penn State 7. Texas A&M 8. Indiana 9. Iowa State 10. Georgia Tech 11. Texas Tech 12. Memphis

Kyle Bonagura: 1. Ohio State 2. Oregon 3. Miami 4. Ole Miss 5. Oklahoma 6. Texas Tech 7. Penn State 8. Indiana 9. Alabama 10. Georgia 11. Iowa State 12. Memphis

Bill Connelly: 1. Oregon 2. Ohio State 3. Ole Miss 4. Texas A&M 5. Miami 6. Texas Tech 7. Indiana 8. Vanderbilt 9. Iowa State 10. Georgia Tech 11. Missouri 12. Memphis

Eli Lederman: 1. Ohio State 2. Oregon 3. Miami 4. Ole Miss 5. Oklahoma 6. Texas A&M 7. Indiana 8. Alabama 9. Penn State 10. Georgia 11. Texas Tech 12. South Florida

Max Olson: 1. Oregon 2. Ohio State 3. Miami 4. Penn State 5. Texas A&M 6. Ole Miss 7. Georgia 8. Texas Tech 9. Indiana 10. Alabama 11. Iowa State 12. South Florida

Adam Rittenberg: 1. Ohio State 2. Miami 3. Oregon 4. Ole Miss. 5. Oklahoma 6. Texas Tech 7. Indiana 8. Texas A&M 9. Alabama 10. Georgia 11. Penn State 12. Memphis

Mark Schlabach: 1. Ohio State 2. Oregon 3. Miami 4. Texas A&M 5. Ole Miss 6. Texas Tech 7. Oklahoma 8. Indiana 9. Alabama 10. Georgia 11. Penn State 12. South Florida

Jake Trotter: 1. Ohio State 2. Miami 3. Oregon 4. Texas A&M 5. Ole Miss 6. Indiana 7. Oklahoma 8. Alabama 9. Texas Tech 10. Georgia 11. Iowa State 12. South Florida

Paolo Uggetti: 1. Ohio State 2. Oregon 3. Miami 4. Ole Miss 5. Oklahoma 6. Texas Tech 7. Indiana 8. Texas A&M 9. Alabama 10. Georgia 11. Iowa State 12. Memphis

Dave Wilson: 1. Ohio State 2. Miami 3. Oregon 4. Ole Miss 5. Oklahoma 6. Texas Tech 7. Texas A&M 8. Indiana 9. Alabama 10. Georgia 11. Penn State 12. North Texas