College Football Playoff Pictures: Here's what the 12-team bracket looks like after 8 weeks

The first College Football Playoff rankings are just two weeks away.

With this season's playoffs spanning 12 teams, we're creating the projected playoff field each week before the inaugural 2024 rankings are released on Nov. 5.

Without the CFP rankings as our guide, we rely mostly on the AP Top 25 as our barometer to project the field. The CFP rankings and the AP poll usually have more similarities than differences at the end of the season. Here's what the tentative playoff field looks like after the third Saturday in October.

First round bye

1. Oregon (7-0, projected Big Ten champion)

The Ducks are in the top of the AP Top 25 for the first time since 2012 after a loss to Texas and their win at Purdue in Week 8. The path to an undefeated regular season also seems very achievable. No. 20 Illinois meets Eugene on Saturday and the Illini are the only ranked team on Oregon's schedule while Michigan is now 4-3. The Ducks' trip to Ann Arbor on Nov. 2 looks a lot less difficult now that it's clear Michigan is unable to overcome its passing woes.

2. Georgia (6-1, projected SEC champion)

Were you one of the doubters Kirby Smart told his team in the days leading up to the Bulldogs' big win over Texas? Doubting Georgia under Smart is always a bad move, though there's a whole difference between doubting the Bulldogs and thinking Texas can win at home as a 3.5-point favorite. Georgia's defensive front was awful against the Longhorns, but the offense has to be better. Carson Beck has eight interceptions across four SEC games.

3. Miami (7-0, projected ACC champion)

The high-wire Hurricanes did it again against Louisville. Miami had a commanding two-score lead in the fourth quarter and benefited from Cam Ward's 52-45 victory. The good news is that Ward is the Heisman front-runner among quarterbacks and has become the clear best QB in college football right now. The bad news is Miami has won all three of its ACC games by one score and has given up 129 points in those games.

4. Iowa State (7-0, projected Big 12 champion)

If we're going to point out Miami's penchant for close games, we also have to remember that Iowa State made it very difficult for itself in a 38-35 home win over UCF. The Knights rushed for 354 yards as RJ Harvey broke off an 80-yard TD run en route to 196 yards on the ground and QB Zakuri Brown had a 67-yard rush as he ran 13 times for 154 yards. Iowa State would need to score the final 11 points of the game to win as Rocco Becht ran for the winning TD with 30 seconds left.

First round game

No. 12 Boise State (presumed MWC champion) at No. 5 Penn State (that's big)

It's a shame that the biggest non-power conference game of the week is on a Friday night at 10:30 pm. The Broncos visit UNLV in a matchup that could foreshadow a Mountain West title game. Could the Rebels be the first team to slow down RB Ashton Genty? The Nittany Lions visit Wisconsin on Saturday in a game that has become more difficult than it has been in weeks. Granted, the opponents were Purdue, Rutgers and Northwestern, but Wisconsin is on a three-game winning streak and has won those games by a combined 117-16.

No. 11 BYU (At-Large) No. 6 Ohio State (At-Large)

The Cougars were cardiac cats in Week 8 as Zach Retzlaff hit Darius Lassiter for a 35-yard TD pass with 10 seconds left to give BYU a 38-35 win over Oklahoma State. Now BYU visits the same UCF team that just beat Iowa State. Ohio State hosts Nebraska on Saturday before the biggest game of Week 10 when the Buckeyes visit Penn State. If Ohio State can do what Indiana did to the Cornhuskers in Week 8, it will go a long way toward building fans' confidence ahead of State College's trip.

No. 7 Texas (At-Large) No. 10 Clemson (At-Large)

Yes, Quinn Ewers is still Texas' starting quarterback. Steve Sarkisian said that after the Longhorns' loss to Georgia and if it wasn't clear enough, the entire second half that Years played should tell you that his job is not in jeopardy. Sarkisian's decision to go to Arch Manning in the first half raised eyebrows, but Manning's ineffectiveness against Georgia's offense made it easy to switch back to Ewers. Clemson, meanwhile, continues to pile up the points. The Tigers beat Virginia 48-31 in Week 8 before Saturday's bye. The Tigers are the seventh-highest scoring team in the nation at 42 points per game despite scoring just three against Georgia in Week 1.

No. 8 Tennessee (At-Large) No. 9 LSU (At-Large)

It would be an exceptionally fun inter-conference matchup if it held. Tennessee's offense got back on track in the second half of the win over Alabama, while LSU had none of the problems the Vols had in Fayetteville. Tennessee is off Saturday and the Crimson Tide can enjoy a win for another week, when LSU visits Texas A&M in the biggest game of the weekend. The Tigers and Aggies are the only SEC teams without a conference loss.