College Football Playoff 2021: Latest NCAA Predictions After Week 1 Standings

The first week of the 2021 college football season reinforced something we have known for a long time: the SEC is king. 

The Alabama Crimson Tide backed up their No. 1 ranking with a blowout victory over the Miami Hurricanes. 

A few hours later, the Georgia Bulldogs finished off the best defensive performance of Week 1 with a 10-3 win over the Clemson Tigers. 

Saturday's victories by the SEC powers already have us talking about a potential head-to-head meeting in December that could have massive playoff implications. 

For now, the task is easy for Alabama and Georgia. All they have to do is keep winning to remain at the forefront of the College Football Playoff discussion.

The Oklahoma Sooners and Ohio State Buckeyes deserve to be mentioned in the very early playoff conversation, but both of those programs need to improve in the coming weeks and months to have a shot at knocking off one of the two SEC powers by season's end.

Alabama is not leaving the No. 1 spot in the polls any time soon. 

The preseason No. 1 in the AP Top 25 and Amway Coaches Poll steamrolled Miami on a neutral field in Atlanta on Saturday. 

Nick Saban's side showed no affects of turning over one of the most talented rosters in college football history. Mac Jones, Najee Harris and DeVonta Smith are all set for success in the NFL and another set of Bama stars are working to get on their path to the professional level. 

Bryce Young excelled in his first start with 344 passing yards and four touchdowns. Brian Robinson ran for 60 yards on 12 carries and three wide outs caught the four scoring passes from Young. 

Alabama's defense is pretty darn good as well. The Tide held Miami to 13 points, 10 of which came in the third quarter when Bama was well ahead by double figures. 

If the playoff rankings came out this week, Alabama would be the unquestioned No. 1 team with Georgia likely behind it thanks to the win over Clemson. That would force Oklahoma and Ohio State to occupy the final two positions in the standings. 

Ohio State opened the season as the No. 4 team in both polls and it should remain there with Georgia expected to make a leap from No. 5. 

The Buckeyes played well in the second half of their win over the Minnesota Golden Gophers, but it took some time to create separation from the home side. 

Ohio State deserves credit for fending off a tricky road test in C.J. Stroud's first start at quarterback and the team will likely only get better. 

Ryan Day's team has a chance to earn a big nonconference win on Saturday, when the Oregon Ducks come to Ohio Stadium.

Georgia deserves a boost to No. 2 in all of the major polls. 

The Bulldogs earned the best win of Week 1 by holding the third-ranked Clemson Tigers to three points in Charlotte. 

Georgia's offense was not great either, but if its defense plays that way all season, an abundance of points will not be required to win every contest. 

Kirby Smart's team will move up at least one spot as Clemson falls and it should leap Ohio State and Oklahoma as well. 

Oklahoma barely held on to a 40-35 victory over the Tulane Green Wave on Saturday. The Sooners appeared to have an extra advantage in that game since the site was moved from New Orleans to Norman, Oklahoma. To Tulane's credit, it hung around for four quarters against the Big 12 title favorite. 

That result combined with Georgia's performance may not inspire voters to move the Sooners into the No. 2 spot behind Alabama.

With no major differences between Oklahoma and Ohio State in Week 1, the Sooners should remain ahead of the Buckeyes for now. 

Unlike Ohio State, Oklahoma does not have an opportunity to build up its resume in nonconference play. The Sooners host the Western Carolina Catamounts and Nebraska Cornhuskers in the next two weeks. 

If Ohio State beats Oregon in convincing fashion, we could see the Big Ten and Big 12 sides flip places beneath the two SEC powers.