CFP Tiers: Miami and Georgia Head the Elite — SkimNews
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- Georgia (6-1) remains CBS Sports' SEC favorite at midseason and is projected as a top-4 CFP seed despite a home loss to Auburn, where coach Kirby Smart said the Bulldogs beat themselves after three Gunner Stockton turnovers.
- Miami (6-0) is the lone Power Four team projected to enter the CFP unbeaten as the No. 1 seed, with the Nov. 7 Notre Dame game set to virtually lock in a top-4 seed and opening-round bye.
- Notre Dame (6-1) is in Tier A as a one-play undefeated team — the Fighting Irish took a fourth-quarter lead at BYU before falling on a Cougars' game-winning drive, leaving them a goal-line play shy of being ranked No. 1.
- Kentucky (6-1) validated its LSU overtime stunner with a road win at Oklahoma as an underdog, with first-year coach Will Stein erasing doubts after the Wildcats trailed 17-0 at South Carolina the prior week.
- Indiana (6-1) sits on a 23-game winning streak heading into Saturday at Michigan and is ranked above Ohio State in the CBS tiering because Julian Sayin's injury drops Buckeyes backup Luke Fahey into the QB1 role.
- Alabama (5-2) hasn't scored a second-half point since a 56-23 rout of Mississippi State on Oct. 3, with the Crimson Tide's slide against Georgia and Tennessee drawing jeers for Kalen DeBoer and Ryan Grubb ahead of a November LSU trip that could decide the SEC's last at-large CFP bid.
- Tennessee (6-1) is mounting an SEC title push behind defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, whose $2 million salary produced what the column calls one of the most notable defensive game plans of the season in the Vols' win over Alabama.
Why it matters: With six unbeatens left and Texas falling from No. 1 to near the cutline in two games, the Tier A-versus-Tier C gap hinges almost entirely on November head-to-heads — particularly the Alabama-LSU matchup the column pegs as the SEC's at-large CFP tiebreaker. Indiana being slotted above an injured Ohio State underscores how thin the Tier B margin has become, setting up a December where selection committee debates will turn on strength-of-record rather than reputation.
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