College Football Playoff predictions: Who's most likely to make the field - ESPN

Week 5 of the season finally gave us a glimpse of some presumed College Football Playoff contenders against stouter competition.

How will this season's top games affect the College Football Playoff chase? What are the current odds for the top four? The Allstate Playoff Predictor has the answers. Check back every week as the odds are updated following that week's games.

It also might have reset what we thought about other contenders. Four teams that were ranked in the top 10 of the AP poll and in last week's playoff picks — LSU, Penn State, Georgia and Florida State — lost.

While other CFP contenders had big weekends, Ohio State continued to quietly take care of business, this time in its first road game of the season. Julian Sayin threw for 208 yards and OSU cruised past Washington. While the Buckeyes travel to Illinois in two weeks, their next big test will likely come Nov. 1 when they host Penn State.

Those Nittany Lions looked like they would take a big step in the Big Ten hierarchy, rallying from a 17-3 deficit to force overtime against Oregon. However, after trading scores in the first overtime, Penn State QB Drew Allar threw a bad pick to end the game. Allar is now 0-6 against AP top 6-ranked opponents and coach James Franklin is 4-21 at Penn State when facing AP top-10 teams.

In the SEC, Ole Miss notched a big win for its eventual CFP case by beating LSU. Alabama, which lost its season opener to FSU, needed to avoid a second loss while facing Georgia. The Tide jumped out early like they did a year ago against the Bulldogs, and just like in 2024, they had to hold on for a tight win. Tide QB Ty Simpson threw for 276 yards and two scores.

Here are our experts' top 12 College Football Playoff picks:

Andrea Adelson: 1.