College Football Playoff Bubble Watch: ESPN breaks down who's in, who's out after Week 6

The latest College Football Playoff Bubble Watch is here from ESPN’s Heather Dinich. Below is a complete breakdown of the Power Four conferences, who’s in, who’s out and who else from the Independents and Group of Five are in and out.

College football saw a shakeup this weekend anyway with Penn State and Texas falling victim to upset losses. Three of the preseason top four teams are now unranked: the two previously mentioned and Clemson.

So without further ado, let’s dive into the latest College Football Playoff Bubble Watch. We’ll start with a stacked SEC!

SEC

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

The SEC is loaded when it comes to the College Football Playoff. Dinich projected six teams to get in right now. Six! 

You ever see “Hank the Buffalo” in the latest Buffalo Wild Wings commercial? That’s how insane that is. ESPN projected Texas A&M as the SEC champ based on the remaining schedule and they’ll get the first round bye out of the conference.

Big Ten

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

Three Big Ten teams are getting in right now and we already have nine spots secured in the College Football Playoff. Basically, everyone else is fighting for scraps.

Ohio State is Dinich’s projected Big Ten champion while Oregon will also finish top four with the Buckeyes. These have looked like two of the best teams in all of college football all year.

ACC

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

Miami is the lone ACC team to get into the College Football Playoff right now. They are far and away the best team in the league.

Georgia Tech and Virginia are in the next two tiers per Dinich’s projections. They have to win the ACC to get in at this point as Miami has certainly built up enough of a resume to this point. Interestingly, Florida State would be out now with two losses, so they’d need a massive run.

Big 12

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

Texas Tech is unbeaten and the Big 12 leaders right now. They’d be the lone College Football Playoff representative from this league. Some say you can’t buy a portal roster for the CFP, but the Red Raiders are proving otherwise right now.

BYU has a chance though, since they’re “on the cusp.” As for the rest, such as last year’s Big 12 champs and CFP rep Arizona State, there’s plenty of work to do in the second half of the season.

Independent

Would be out: Notre Dame

Notre Dame would be out right now despite the AP Poll ranking and three wins in a row. Remember, the Fighting Irish are still just 3-2 on the season.

They have good losses: Miami and Texas A&M. but since there’s no conference title game for Notre Dame, they’d have to essentially win out and finish 10-2 to make the College Football Playoff. No room for error.

Group of Five

Would be in: Memphis
Work to do: Navy, North Texas, Old Dominion, South Florida, Tulane, UNLV

None of the top Group of Five teams are out of the College Football PLayoff right now, but they all have work to do. Memphis is the top squad right now.

Memphis is 6-0 overall and 2-0 in league play. But watch out for 6-0 Navy and 5-0 North Texas, as both teams are also unbeaten in the AAC.

Bracket

No. 1 Miami (ACC champ)
No. 2 Ohio State (Big Ten champ)
No. 3 Oregon
No. 4 Texas A&M (SEC champ)

First round games

No. 12 Memphis (American champ) at No. 5 Ole Miss
No. 11 Tennessee at No. 6 Alabama
No. 10 Texas Tech (Big 12 champ) at No. 7 Oklahoma
No. 9 Indiana at No. 8 Georgia

Quarterfinal games

No. 12 Memphis/No. 5 Ole Miss winner vs. No. 4 Texas A&M
No. 11 Tennessee/No. 6 Alabama winner vs. No. 3 Oregon
No. 10 Texas Tech/No. 7 Oklahoma winner vs. No. 2 Ohio State
No. 9 Indiana/No. 8 Georgia winner vs. No. 1 Miami