After the reveal of the first College Football Playoff rankings, the top teams knew where they stood in the pecking order. Some of those top contenders found themselves in tough battles to stay in the CFP conversation.
Indiana, which was No. 2 in the initial rankings, and Oregon, ranked No. 9, both went on the road for conference games. Neither had an easy time.
Indiana was sitting on a 20-10 lead in the fourth quarter against Penn State when things got wild. A Penn State scoring drive followed by a Fernando Mendoza interception and another quick score from the Nittany Lions had the Hoosiers looking at their first loss. But Mendoza had some late heroics left and found Omar Cooper Jr. for the game-winning score (and one of the best catches of the year) in the 27-24 win.
In awful weather, Oregon fell behind late to Iowa and had to drive down the field with less than two minutes left to kick the winning field goal in the 18-16 game.
Facing LSU, in its first game since the firing of Brian Kelly, Alabama forced two turnovers and held the Tigers to under 300 total yards. In the 20-9 win, Crimson Tide QB Ty Simpson threw for 277 yards and a touchdown.
Here are our experts' top 12 College Football Playoff picks:
Andrea Adelson: 1. Ohio State 2. Indiana 3. Texas A&M 4. Alabama 5. Georgia 6. Ole Miss 7. Texas Tech 8. Oregon 9. Notre Dame 10. BYU 11. Georgia Tech 12. North Texas
Kyle Bonagura: 1. Ohio State 2. Indiana 3. Texas A&M 4. Alabama 5. Georgia 6. Texas Tech 7. Oregon 8. Ole Miss 9. Notre Dame 10. BYU 11. Georgia Tech 12. North Texas
Bill Connelly: 1. Ohio State 2. Indiana 3. Texas A&M 4. Alabama 5. Texas Tech 6. Georgia 7. Ole Miss 8. Oregon 9. Notre Dame 10. BYU 11. Georgia Tech 12. North Texas
David Hale: 1. Ohio State 2. Texas A&M 3. Indiana 4. Alabama 5. Georgia 6. Texas Tech 7. Ole Miss 8. Oregon 9. Notre Dame 10. Texas 11. James Madison 12. North Texas
Eli Lederman: 1. Ohio State 2. Texas A&M 3. Indiana 4. Alabama 5. Georgia 6. Ole Miss 7. Oregon 8. Texas Tech 9. Notre Dame 10. Georgia Tech 11. BYU 12. North Texas
Max Olson: 1. Ohio State 2. Texas A&M 3. Indiana 4. Alabama 5. Georgia 6. Texas Tech 7. Ole Miss 8. Oregon 9. Notre Dame 10. BYU 11. Georgia Tech 12. North Texas
Adam Rittenberg: 1. Ohio State 2. Indiana 3. Texas A&M 4. Alabama 5. Georgia 6. Ole Miss 7. Texas Tech 8. Oregon 9. Notre Dame 10. BYU 11. Pittsburgh 12. South Florida
Mark Schlabach: 1. Ohio State 2. Texas A&M 3. Indiana 4. Alabama 5. Georgia 6. Ole Miss 7. Texas Tech 8. Oregon 9. Notre Dame 10. BYU 11. Pittsburgh 12. Tulane
Jake Trotter: 1. Ohio State 2. Indiana 3. Texas A&M 4. Alabama 5. Georgia 6. Texas Tech 7. Ole Miss 8. Oregon 9. Notre Dame 10. Texas 11. Pittsburgh 12. Tulane
Paolo Uggetti: 1. Ohio State 2. Texas A&M 3. Indiana 4. Texas Tech 5. Alabama 6. Georgia 7. Oregon 8. Ole Miss 9. Notre Dame 10. BYU 11. Pittsburgh 12. Tulane
Dave Wilson: 1. Ohio State 2. Texas A&M 3. Indiana 4. Alabama 5. Georgia 6. Ole Miss 7. Texas Tech 8. Oregon 9. Notre Dame 10. BYU 11. Georgia Tech 12. North Texas