The initial AP Poll release has now given us official rankings heading into the season to base opinions off of. While preseason rankings are flawed given they’re mostly based off of past performances they also give us an idea of where each team is projected to finish heading into the season.
The expanded 12 Team College Football Playoff has given the sport more intrigue as just about every team has a realistic shot at making the College Football Playoff.
The 12 team playoff however, won’t be made up of the tweleve highest ranked teams as there are a new set of rules. The Four Highest ranked Conference Champions from the “Power Four” will be seeded 1-4 and given a first round bye. There will then be one non-Power Four Conference Champion who makes the cut but, they’ll be ranked according to where they’re seeded. The remaining seven seeds will be given as at-large bids which will allow for teams that drop a game or two into the Playoff.
Based off of where each team enters the season ranked and how we feel they will fair here is our official preseason prediction of the College Football Playoff.
|
Rank |
Team |
Why are they here |
Previous Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1. |
Georgia |
SEC Champions |
N/A |
|
2. |
Ohio State |
Big Ten Champions |
N/A |
|
3. |
Florida State |
ACC Champions |
N/A |
|
4. |
Oklahoma State |
Big 12 Champions |
N/A |
|
5. |
Texas |
At Large |
N/A |
|
6. |
Oregon |
At Large |
N/A |
|
7. |
Alabama |
At Large |
N/A |
|
8. |
Notre Dame |
At Large |
N/A |
|
9. |
Tennessee |
At Large |
N/A |
|
10. |
Liberty |
Conference USA Champions |
N/A |
|
11. |
LSU |
At Large |
N/A |
|
12. |
Ole Miss |
At Large |
N/A |
Georgia and Ohio State enter the season with the highest expectations and both get in here as conference champions. Florida State wins the ACC again and they won’t have to sweat out the selection show like they did last season. Finally, the Big 12 is anyone’s race but, we pick Oklahoma State given the talent they have returning.
We give our Non-Power Four bid to Liberty in Conference USA after finishing undefeated in the regular season in 2023. The Flames return a ton of the group from last season including quarterback Kaidon Salter.
The at large grouping is dominated by the SEC, getting five of the seven available at large bids. The SEC teams will face each other a ton in the regular season but, given the strength of the conference its easy to see a path to 10-2 for each team at worst.
On the outside looking in are teams like Michigan, Clemson, Penn State, Missouri, Utah, and Miami. These teams could all easily jump into the conversation a week or two into the season but, we’re not as optimistic about this group as many around the country are.
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