College Football Playoff Bubble Watch: ESPN breaks down who's in, who's out after Week 3

The latest College Football Playoff bubble watch is here from ESPN’s Heather Dinich as we have a look at who’s in and who’s out. We’re now three-plus weeks into the season, but we do have a rough look at this year’s bracket.

We’ll provide a breakdown of the Power Four conferences, the Independents and Group of Five through three weeks. ESPN provided three categories of who’s in, who has work to do and who is out of the playoff picture.

Let’s dive into the College Football Playoff bubble watch per ESPN. We’ll start with the SEC.

SEC

Would be in: Georgia, LSU, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas A&M
Work to do: Alabama, Auburn, Mississippi State, Missouri, Ole Miss, Texas, Vanderbilt
Would be out: Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, South Carolina

That’s right, five SEC teams are in the College Football Playoff as it stands right now. Georgia has looked really impressive, LSU has grinded out victories, Oklahoma has surprised, as has Tennessee, and Texas A&M had a landmark win over Notre Dame.

So with that, Alabama and Auburn have some work to do, as does Texas! Who would’ve said that in the preseason? The Crimson Tide have turned things around after losing to Florida State to open the season. ESPN already put teams like Florida and South Carolina out of the mix for now.

Big Ten

Would be in: Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State
Work to do: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Nebraska, USC
Would be out: Iowa, Maryland, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue, Rutgers, UCLA, Washington, Wisconsin

The big three of the Big Ten are in the College Football Playoff based on the current rankings and projections. But, there are still plenty of teams that could make a run and get into the dance.

Michigan is on the outset with a loss to Oklahoma. This week’s Nebraska-Michigan game will be massive. USC and Illinois are biding their time for a run too!

ACC

Would be in: Florida State, Miami
Work to do: Cal, Georgia Tech, Louisville, SMU
Would be out: Boston College, Duke, North Carolina, NC State, Pitt, Stanford, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest

Just two ACC squads would represent in the College Football Playoff right now. Florida State already turned things around after last year’s two-win campaign and Miami looks very impressive.

It should be noted that ESPN and Dinich omitted Clemson in this article and the time of writing. It is unclear where they would be, although it would be safe to say the Tigers would be out right now with a lot of work to do, sitting at 1-2 through three games.

Big 12

Would be in: Iowa State
Work to do: Arizona, Baylor, BYU, Houston, TCU, Texas Tech, UCF, Utah
Would be out: Kansas State, West Virginia, Oklahoma State, Colorado, Cincinnati, Arizona State, Kansas

Just one Big 12 team is getting into the College Football Playoff right now. That could be the case by season’s end too.

The Cyclones started off impressive in Ireland, beating Kansas State, and have kept the train rolling. There are still plenty of teams alive to win the conference, but Iowa State is the clear favorite in American’s wackiest Power Four conference.

Independent

Would be out: Notre Dame

The Fighting Irish went from making the College Football Playoff national championship to being out of the bracket just two games in. That’s how much can change in a new season!

Notre Dame is not out of it by any means, but they’ll likely have to win out and finish 10-2, despite losing to ranked opponents Miami and Texas A&M. That’ll be a herculean task.

Group of Five

Would be in: South Florida
Work to do: Tulane, UNLV, Navy, Memphis

ESPN put South Florida in the College Football Playoff as of now, even after a blowout loss to Miami. The Bulls still managed a win over Florida on the road and projected to be the highest ranked Group of Five champion. 

Tulane, Navy and Memphis will give chase in what could be a great AAC season. But don’t sleep on Dan Mullen and UNLV later this year as well!