This year marks the first year of the 12 team playoff in college football. With this new format, there are many possibilities. Teams will no longer have to go undefeated to secure a playoff spot. Could we see less SEC teams due to the addition of Texas and Oklahoma? Will Notre Dame make it despite losing to NIU? All are possibilities, displaying the beauty of the 12 team playoff.
1: Alabama
Bama was lucky to get a win against Georgia after letting them come back from a twenty point lead. With that said, Alabama has the best offense in the nation by a mile. One of their biggest weapons is Ryan Williams, who at 17 has played himself into contention for the heisman trophy. Ryan is a year younger than me and already far more successful, but hey, everyone has their own path.
2: Texas
Texas not only has the best quarterback room in the country, but a very legit team outside of that. They have great weapons on offense with Jaydon Blue and Isaiah Bond and tough defense that has shut down offenses all seasons like Michigan. Texas has had an incredibly high season, but benching Arch Manning for Quinn Ewers could be problematic, as the sophomore sensation has been on fire recently.
3: Ohio State
Ohio State is a very complete team with a great defense led by Jack Sawyer and an electric offense with weapons like Jeremiah Smith and Quinshon Judkins. Quarterback Will Howard has been putting up good numbers thus far, but I question his talent as a whole and think he will fold against good competition as the season goes on. I thought Ohio State recruited Will Howard way too hard on the portal and fans are about to see why.
4: Georgia
Georgia could easily be ahead of Ohio State on this list; however, losing to Alabama is what puts them at four. The first half of the Bama game was the worst football I’ve seen from Georgia in the past few years. However, though they didn’t win the game, Georgia undoubtedly won the second half and saw much better quarterback play from Carson Beck. If Georgia can play like they did in that second half, they will easily secure a national title.
5: Tennessee
Tennessee is a rare case in college football right now as they have one of the nation’s top quarterbacks in Nico Illaemalleva and a future lottery pick in James Pierce Jr. Tennessee is a very complete team who’s defense shut down the likes of NC State and Oklahoma. It will be interesting to see how Tennessee fares against Alabama and Georgia
6: Miami
The Quarterback receiver duo of Cam Ward and Xavier Restrepo has been electric so far this season. Add running back Damien Martinez to the equation and you have one of the most elite offenses in college football. Defense is a different story, as we saw them nearly lose Miami the game against Virginia Tech. With that said, this very well could be Miami’s year
7: Penn State
Penn State is similar to Tennessee in that they have a talented quarterback in Drew Allar and a great defensive player in Abdul Carter. They’ve struggled against teams they should’ve blown out like Bowling Green and West Virginia; however, with their talent they could compete with any team in the nation. If James Franklin steps up as a coach then Penn State could be a force to be reckoned with come January.
8: Oregon
Oregon is a team that could very easily miss out on the big dance. They’ve had too close of games with Boise State and Idaho and they have a very tough schedule ahead. Dillon Gabriel is very overrated and his size will make him struggle against more legit defenses. Dan Manning is the reason Oregon is winning games and is making Dillon Gabriel look like a good quarterback, which is a tough task.
9: Missouri
Missouri is a team that could drop games to both Oklahoma and Alabama; however, I think they win one of those games and make the big dance. They knocked off a great Boston College team earlier this year and their offense looks great. Coach Eli Drinkwitz should continue to thrive in his relatively new job at Missouri.
10: Notre Dame
I am very high on Notre Dame at the moment. Yes the NIU game exists, but the rest of Notre Dame’s schedule is very favorable with their best opponent being USC. Notre Dame proved that they can beat (semi) good teams with a win over Louisville this past weekend. Not only that, Riley Leonard proved himself as a passer for the first time this season. Notre Dame is more than capable of upsetting teams in this year’s playoff.
11: Utah
Utah recently fell to a great Arizona team, however once they get quarterback Cam Rising back, they should begin to thrive like they did at the beginning of the season. At 25 years old, not only does Cam Rising have an autographed version of the Bible, he is a very experienced and talented player. The rest of Utah’s schedule has college football playoff written all over it.
12: Boston College
There is not a team in the nation having more fun than Boston College. They recently struggled at home against WKU, but they were without star quarterback Thomas Castellanos. Coach Bill O’Brien is a great coach and offensive mind, and will make Boston College relevant again. There’s a reason he was Nick Saban’s right hand man for years.
