If we were to grade Week 5 of the college football season on the Richter scale, the results were more like a mild tremor than something approaching an earthquake. That doesn't mean that the fallout from the weekend left the postseason picture unshaken.
The College Football Playoff saw some significant movement, notably with the rise of Alabama after its impressive win at Mississippi State and the loss by Florida at Missouri that ejected dampened the fast start of the Gators. For the Crimson Tide, they move up into the No. 5 seed, just behind the four teams earning byes. And there's a chance to move higher should Alabama win its showdown against Georgia this week.
Florida,
meanwhile, falls out of the 12-team field in favor of UCLA. It's been an unlikely rise for the Bruins in the first year under Bob Chesney. They've run through four opponents to start the year that admittedly aren't the stiffest competition, but only two ranked teams are left on the schedule - this week's visit to Oregon and a season-finale against Southern California. A split in those two and taking care of business elsewhere would likely send UCLA to the CFP.
College football bowl projections after Week 5
Note: Pac-12 spots are filled by teams currently in the conference and legacy teams that have left.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bowl projections: Alabama surges, a new Big Ten team joins College Football Playoff field
