It happened again for the Ohio State Buckeyes. The Big Ten favorite and College Football Playoff frontrunner behind Alabama left Purdue with a 29-point loss and a bruised ego Saturday night, marking Week 8's most surprising result and biggest upset nationally. The Buckeyes gave up a number of big plays and ultimate wilted under pressure in a game that was never particularly close. Now, the margin of error is zero for Urban Meyer's team as it heads down the home stretch with the postseason race looking very different in the Big Ten. How did Ohio State's loss affect this week's power shift near the top? Here are ESPN's updated college football power rankings heading into Week 9:<doc-sep>Joe Robbins/Getty Images Six NFL teams are either (a) tied for or (b) within a half-game of an NFL playoff spot after seven weeks. Granted, 10 more weeks of football must play out, and some of those teams can be out of the playoff picture by Thanksgiving. However, let's take a look ahead at their future schedules and project where they may end up when the regular season finishes on December 30. You can also take a look at a projected NFL power ranking following the Monday Night Football game between the Atlanta Falcons (the predicted winner) and the New York Giants. Projected NFL Power Rankings After Monday Night Football 1. Los Angeles Rams (7-0) 2. Kansas City Chiefs (6-1) Video Play Button Videos you might like 3. New Orleans Saints (5-1) 4. New England Patriots (5-2) 5. Los Angeles Chargers (5-2) 6. Washington Redskins (4-2) 7. Carolina Panthers (4-2) 8. Minnesota Vikings (4-2-1) 9. Pittsburgh Steelers (3-2-1) 10. Green Bay Packers (3-2-1) 11. Cincinnati Bengals (4-3) 12. Baltimore Ravens (4-3) 13. Miami Dolphins (4-3) 14. Houston Texans (4-3) 15. Chicago Bears (3-3) 16. Seattle Seahawks (3-3) 17. Detroit Lions (3-3) 18. Tennessee Titans (3-4) 19. Dallas Cowboys (3-4) 20. Jacksonville Jaguars (3-4) 21. New York Jets (3-4) 22. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-4) 23. Denver Broncos (3-4) 24. Philadelphia Eagles (3-4) 25. Atlanta Falcons (3-4) 25. Cleveland Browns (2-4-1) 27. Indianapolis Colts (2-5) 28. Buffalo Bills (2-5) 29. Oakland Raiders (1-5) 30. New York Giants (1-6) 31. Arizona Cardinals (1-6) 32. San Francisco 49ers (1-6) Baltimore Ravens Baltimore has some tough matchups (notably road games with the Carolina Panthers, Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs), but the Ravens also play at home versus three teams with .500 or worse records. A road tilt with the Atlanta Falcons isn't daunting with the 2016 NFC champion struggling on defense. Baltimore could also beat the aforementioned Panthers, who don't have an explosive passing game and may have trouble with the strong Ravens secondary. Look for the Ravens to make a strong second-half run and hold off the Pittsburgh Steelers by a half-game for the division crown. Prediction: 11-5, AFC North champion, No. 3 seed Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins schedule down the stretch is difficult. Not only are three of their next four games on the road, but the team faces the 5-2 New England Patriots and 4-2-1 Minnesota Vikings in back-to-back weeks. Miami also has road tests with the Green Bay Packers and Houston Texans. Miami still needs to play the 2-5 Buffalo Bills twice, and a home game with the Jacksonville Jaguars doesn't look daunting with the Jags reeling following three straight losses. However, Miami is 1-3 after a 3-0 start and fading fast. Prediction: 7-9, Second in AFC East, out of playoffs Tampa Bay Buccaneers Six of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' remaining 10 games come against teams with winning records. Two of the other four matchups are on the road (versus the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys), while a third one is against notorious Bucs dominator Julio Jones and the Atlanta Falcons in a home game that might be a toss-up at best for Tampa. The Bucs may be favored in just three of their remaining games at best (home vs. San Francisco, Atlanta and Washington). Given the team's defensive struggles (coupled with its tough division), the Bucs are strong contenders to fall into last place. Prediction: 5-11, Last in NFC South, out of playoffs Seattle Seahawks Here's the good news: Five of the Seattle Seahawks' seven final games are at home, where the team has largely dominated this decade. Here's the bad news: The Seahawks still need to play the 5-2 Chargers, the 7-0 Los Angeles Rams and the 6-1 Chiefs. The rest of Seattle's outlook looks rosy. The Seahawks have two games left with the 1-6 San Francisco 49ers and another matchup with the 1-6 Arizona Cardinals. They have some tough matchups with a couple of NFC North teams (the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers), but the host Seahawks could actually be favored in both. Look for Seattle to finish with a winning record, but in a tough NFC, they may fall just outside the playoff picture. Prediction: 9-7, Second in NFC West, out of playoffs Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions' remaining schedule is brutal. Their next six games are against teams with .500 records or better, including road matchups with the Vikings and Chicago Bears and a home date with the Rams. Detroit gets a small break when the team faces the Cardinals and Bills in back-to-back weeks, but the Lions close out their schedule with matchups against Green Bay and Minnesota. Credit goes to the Lions for turning their season around after an ugly 0-2 start, but the schedule is so tough down the stretch that it's hard seeing them making a serious playoff push. Prediction: 7-9, Last in NFC North, out of playoffs Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears still need to play three of the NFL's worst teams (the Giants, 49ers and Bills). They are also the clear favorite in their upcoming home game with the New York Jets, per OddsShark. The problem is the Bears also have five tough divisional games remaining, including two with the Vikings. A date with the Rams also looms. However, if the Bears take care of business in the first four games mentioned, they will need to go just 3-3 in their remaining six matchups to go 10-6 and (presumably) make the playoffs. The guess here is Chicago gets it done and takes down the NFC North. Prediction: 10-6, First in NFC North, No. 3 seed<doc-sep>And Ohio State was unbeaten no more! The Buckeyes' shocking upset at Purdue, a team that proved it was up to the task with a 29-point beatdown, tosses everything we thought we knew about the College Football Playoff race into the spin cycle one week ahead of the selection committee's first rankings reveal. What did ESPN's FPI rankings have to say about the Big Ten's surprising result? The Football Power Index (FPI) is a measure of team strength that is meant to be the best predictor of a team's performance going forward for the rest of the season. FPI represents how many points above or below average a team is. Projected results are based on 10,000 simulations of the rest of the season using FPI, results to date, and the remaining schedule. Ratings and projections update daily. From Nos. 25 to 1, here are the changes in ESPN's Top 25 after Week 8:<doc-sep>
It’s almost like it was scripted. Days (ok, a little over a week) before the first College Football Playoff rankings come out (Oct. 30), we were treated to a major upset as Purdue knocked off undefeated No. 2 Ohio State. The Buckeyes have long been projected as one of the sure CFP final four teams. Now, the Michigan game has taken on a whole new level of importance. The debates of which conferences are on the outside looking in and if the SEC will send two teams are about to get cranked up. As far as the Associated Press Top 25 rankings, fans will debate whether Ohio State should drop past fellow one-loss teams Georgia and Oklahoma. The Buckeyes have arguably the most impressive win of the trio (at Penn State) and worst loss (at Purdue). Here’s how we project the new AP Top 25: Alabama (8-0) def. Tennessee Clemson (7-0) def. No. 16 NC State Notre Dame (7-0) OFF LSU (7-1) def. No. 22 Mississippi State Michigan (7-1) def. No. 24 Michigan State Texas (6-1) OFF Georgia (6-1) OFF Oklahoma (6-1) def. TCU Ohio State (7-1) lost to Purdue UCF (7-0) def. East Carolina Florida (6-1) OFF West Virginia (5-1) OFF Washington State (6-1) def. No. 12 Oregon Kentucky (6-1) def. Vanderbilt Washington (6-2) def. Colorado Texas A&M (5-2) OFF Penn State (5-2) def. Indiana Iowa (6-1) def. Maryland Oregon (5-2) lost to No. 25 WSU USF (7-0) def. UConn Wisconsin (5-2) def. Illinois Stanford (5-2) def. Arizona State NC State (5-1) lost to Clemson Utah (5-2) def. USC Cincinnati (6-1) lost to Temple Projected to fall out of Top 25: No. 22 Mississippi State (4-3) lost to LSU; No. 24 Michigan State (4-3) lost to Michigan