The Irish Stay on Top
A chaotic Week 1 produced a clear head of the table: Notre Dame. Sports Illustrated's projections after the opening weekend kept the Irish as the top team and No. 1 seed in the 12-team College Football Playoff field after their dominant 41-13 win over Wisconsin. Multiple projection systems — ESPN's top-12 projection, Pat Forde's bracket for SI, and Bleacher Report's updated field — all converged on the same theme: the Irish look like the most complete team in the country through one week.
Massive Moves for LSU and USC
The biggest movers came from the two most impressive statements of the weekend. LSU jumped up as the SEC's projected favorite after its 51-10 dismantling of Clemson — College Football News listed the Tigers among the teams making a 'massive move' in its Week 2 playoff predictions. USC made an equally dramatic climb, rewarded by projection models for its own emphatic opening win. Both teams went from question marks in the preseason to projected playoff participants in a single Saturday.
Week 2's Mega-Showdown Looms
The projections also set up the season's first heavyweight collision. Ohio State (No. 1) and Texas (top five) meet in Week 2, and multiple analysts noted the winner could claim pole position for the top seed — while the loser's playoff path gets immediately complicated. With the SEC sweep, a resurgent ACC, and the Big Ten's status under scrutiny after a shaky opening, the 12-team field suddenly feels wide open heading into the season's second weekend.
What This Means for CFB 27
For CFB 27 players, projections are a roadmap for roster building: Notre Dame's dominance makes Fighting Irish cards the safest high-end investment in Ultimate Team right now, while LSU and USC players are trending up after their big wins. In Dynasty, the lesson is to buy into teams with momentum — LSU's stock is rising exactly when its players' ratings are. And for the OSU-Texas showdown, expect heavy market movement around both rosters; the winner's cards could spike, making this the biggest trading window of the young season.
