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So long, Seminoles. Hello, USC. Week 1 has already impacted the College Football Playoff race, which is proof the regular season still matters in the new 12-team field. "I don't coach for the media, I don't coach for headlines," USC coach Lincoln Riley said after his team's 27-20 win over LSU in Las Vegas. "I'm not the most experienced guy, but I've been through a couple of these," he said, "I have a decent idea of what pretty good looks like, and I know we're making progress." Enough progress to earn a spot in this week's Bubble Watch, which includes the predicted 12-team bracket, who gets first-round byes, the first four out, the next four in line, and how the Group of 5 conference champions will stack up. According to the Allstate Playoff Predictor, the SEC now has a 46.2% chance to get five or more teams into the 12-team field. Jump to a topic:
Byes | First-round matchups
First four out | Next four out
Group of 5  Projected 12-team bracketFirst-round byes Note: Seeding is based on my projected top 12 from the CFP committee  No. 1 seed Georgia Bulldogs: The Bulldogs would earn the top seed as the SEC champion and the highest-ranked conference champion. This is based on Georgia also being the selection committee's No. 1 team overall on Selection Day. Following its convincing win against Clemson, the Bulldogs enter Week 2 ranked No. 3 in ESPN's strength of record metric, which has typically lined up well with the committee's top four teams in the previous CFP format. Georgia is also No. 1 in ESPN's Football Power Index and has a conference-best 30.4% chance to win the SEC.
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