College Football Playoff Standings 2015: Week 6 Rankings, Bowl Game Projections

The twists and turns of every college football season never cease to amaze, and Week 5 only further underscored that fact.

Four Top 10 teams eventually went down on Saturday, and that’s not even remarking on the fact that No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 Michigan State and No. 9 LSU all were in closer than expected games late in the second half. The resulting shake-up in the polls was fairly dramatic, as was the postseason picture as we approach the halfway mark.

When it comes to the College Football Playoff in particular, the picture has started to sharpen even more. Pretenders have been dropping like flies over the past two weeks and we finally have a good idea as to who the 10 or so teams are that can really make it to the final four. With that in mind, on to the bowl projections.

Disclaimer: As with any prognostication on the postseason picture this early in the year, these projections are heavy on predicting a ton of coin-flip games, so keep that in mind before screaming to the high heavens. Also note that the bowl picture is fluid because conferences can send teams that finish higher in the standings to bowls that might be considered lower in the pecking order.

Here's a look at the full postseason picture: 

Bleacher Report

With that in mind, here are a few takeaways heading into Week 6 of the season:

• Here are the full Top 25 rankings. The College Football Playoff selection committee will release its first rankings Nov. 3 at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
• With Clemson’s win over Notre Dame and relatively few hurdles left on their schedule, it’s time to welcome the Tigers into the top four. It has looked like the ACC was going to be the conference left out in the cold this year thanks to slow starts by both Clemson and Florida State, but things are looking much different now.
• While the ACC joins the playoff, the Pac-12 has been bumped thanks in part—in a twist of irony—to its strength. While there are a lot of good teams out west, there hasn’t been a true elite team to emerge so far this season. That could be a good sign in placing multiple teams in the New Year’s Six bowl games but not when it comes to the playoff itself. In a twist, USC and Utah control their own fates thanks to UCLA’s loss, so the winner of that contest between the South division players could wind up winning the league.
• Ohio State may very well go undefeated, but if they keep winning like they have been—even in an improved Big Ten—they may suffer the same fate as Florida State did last year: undefeated but in the No. 3 seed.
• The SEC West can play out dozens of ways given how strong some of the teams have looked at times, and the division tiebreakers will likely be a huge factor in the playoff race. We’re giving a shaky nod to Texas A&M right now since they get Alabama off a bye and at home, plus their slight edge on Ole Miss right now after Saturday’s thrashing at the hands of Florida.
• There’s a good chance we are going to fall short of the required number of bowl-eligible teams the way things look. With conference shortcomings filling their respective bowl slots in a number of leagues, we could see a crazy amount of teams winding up in interesting bowl scenarios once things become a free-for-all.
• The AAC remains in the driver’s seat for the Group of Five bid, but any stumble by Memphis or Houston would likely result in Boise State (even with a very weak Mountain West) getting the nod. The Broncos simply look like a different team since freshman quarterback Brett Rypien took over and blowing out their competition the rest of the way will certainly be noticed by the selection committee.
• How about last year’s Rose Bowl teams being matched up again…in El Paso? It’s a Sun Bowl dream scenario even if that’s not what Ducks and Seminoles fans want to hear. Another rematch from last year’s New Year’s Six could be in the works in Vegas between former Fiesta Bowl foes Arizona and Boise State.

You can follow Bryan Fischer on Twitter at @BryanDFischer.