College Football Playoff bracket prediction: What conference titles mean for Selection Sunday

Welcome to my College Football Playoff projections, which will be published weekly through the end of the season, updated and adjusted after each Saturday’s results. Check out the projected field according to Austin Mock’s model, which will look different from my opinion-based selections.

With just two weeks to go until the field is announced, we’re going to adjust the College Football Playoff from a current snapshot and instead project how the field might look on Selection Sunday. That means incorporating championship game predictions into these projections.

Assuming receivers Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate play for Ohio State against Indiana, the Buckeyes should earn the No. 1 overall seed. We’ll give Marcel Reed and Texas A&M the nod for the SEC title and the No. 2 seed. The Big Ten runner-up Hoosiers and Georgia take the No. 3 and 4 seeds, respectively.

Texas Tech claims the Big 12 title with a second win against BYU and faces North Texas, which upsets Tulane for the American championship. SMU has made major strides since losing to former Southwest Conference rivals Baylor and TCU and tops Virginia for the ACC title.

Oregon’s late-season string of wins against Iowa, USC and rival Washington vaults the Ducks to sixth, just ahead of Ole Miss. Oklahoma, Notre Dame and Alabama round out the projected field, just ahead of BYU and Miami.

In the first round, how about the nation’s top-scoring offense in North Texas traveling to Texas Tech, the No. 3 scoring defense? Or the Rebels hosting the Crimson Tide in a battle between former SEC West foes (no word on whether Lane Kiffin will be there)? Oklahoma is 0-5 all-time against Notre Dame in Norman, but I doubt the Sooners would turn down the home-field advantage. SMU and Oregon have played only twice historically, and both were in Texas-based bowl games (1949 Cotton Bowl, 1963 Sun Bowl).

Potential quarterfinal matchups include Ohio State playing the Notre Dame-Oklahoma winner in the Rose Bowl; Texas A&M facing either Ole Miss or Alabama in the Sugar Bowl; Indiana meeting Oregon or SMU in the Cotton Bowl and Georgia playing Texas Tech (or North Texas) in the Orange Bowl. An interesting side note about the potential Sugar Bowl matchup: none of the three SEC schools faced one another this year.

Five upcoming games with CFP significance: Georgia vs. Georgia Tech at Atlanta, 3:30 p.m. Friday, ABC; Ohio State at Michigan, noon, FOX; Miami at Pittsburgh, TBD; Oregon at Washington, 3:30 p.m., CBS; Alabama at Auburn, 7:30 p.m., ABC.