Expanded College Football Playoff: where Ohio State sits after loss to Oregon

COLUMBUS, Ohio ( WCMH ) — Ohio State’s loss Saturday to Oregon does not put its playoff hopes out of reach, but the possibility of missing out becomes real if it loses again.

The Buckeyes must now win out to make the Big Ten championship game. Although two losses might not technically knock them out, too many teams around them could be ahead of them when the final playoff rankings are revealed on Dec. 8.

NBC4 is providing a look at a projected 12-team playoff bracket every week before the first rankings are revealed on Nov. 5. Here is how the playoff bracket looks based on the Associated Press rankings and what changes we could see by next week.

Projected playoff bracket

Ohio State has dropped from the No. 2 spot in our projected playoff field after losing to Oregon by one point. While the Buckeyes dropped to No. 4 in the AP poll, their projected seed fell to No. 6, with Oregon snatching the No. 2 seed and Penn State’s No. 3 AP ranking making it the first at-large team.

In this projected playoff field, the Buckeyes would play Tennessee in the first round on Dec. 20 or 21 at Ohio Stadium. The winner would face Miami in a quarterfinal, likely in the Sugar Bowl.

The next best chance for the Buckeyes’ playoff seed to fluctuate will be on Nov. 2 when they play at undefeated Penn State.

Elsewhere, LSU is the only new team in the fold after its overtime win over Mississippi. As the projected No. 9 seed, it would travel to Alabama for the first round and could run into Texas in a quarterfinal. Another intriguing matchup would be the winner of Georgia-Clemson facing Oregon in the Rose Bowl.

Week 8 games that affect playoff picture

No. 5 Georgia vs. No. 1 Texas: Austin, Texas, will be a madhouse as the city hosts a top-five SEC game. Texas could come out of Saturday with wins over the last two teams to win the national title, and Georgia could put its national title hopes back on track with an upset and reclaim the No. 1 ranking.

No. 7 Alabama vs. No. 11 Tennessee: Before the Georgia-Texas game, college football fans will zero in on Knoxville. Each teams has struggled the last two weeks with a shock upset loss and a narrow win. The winner cements itself at least as the third-best team in the SEC, and the loser’s playoff hopes are all but dashed.

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