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7 Predictions For The First College Football Playoff

Alex Yeoman |
October 15, 2014 | 12:47 p.m. PDT

Staff Reporter

With the first College Football Playoff fast approaching, it time to make some bold, and not so bold, predictions about how the four teams will be selected. Here are seven predictions on the who, the how, the weird, and the wild that will define the first College Playoff.

There will be at least one team from the SEC:

Does this really need to be said? Probably not. The real question is how many teams will get in from the SEC. A wild year has left only two teams undefeated in the SEC - and Alabama is not one of them.

Mississippi State and Ole Miss are primed to make a run at the championship this season after recording some big time wins in dramatic fashion. If these two teams can stay unbeaten until they meet, look for the winner to make the Playoff guaranteed. Don’t worry though if you are on the losing end of that dual though. Having one loss to the top team in the nation would most certainly write a ticket to the Playoff for you as well. 

Alabama will not make it:

After so many dominant years under Nick Saban, Alabama is still good this season, but they are certainly not the best. After a loss to Ole Miss and a narrow win over Arkansas, this team looks like they are maybe the third or fourth best team in the SEC West. Look for the Crimson Tide to be just on the outside of the playoff this year. 

The Pac-12 Championship will be most telling:

No conference knows how to destroy each other's championship hopes quite like the Pac-12. As Oregon, UCLA, USC and Stanford have all lost - the latter three have lost twice - the four favorites out of the Pac-12 have all had their Playoff hopes crushed early on. With that said, these Pac-12 schools are too good to not have one in the first CFP. Expect to see the winner of the Pac-12 championship in as the number four seed in the Playoff this year.

If the USC Trojans wins the rest of their games, they are in:

Two early losses against mediocre teams will easily be forgotten if USC finishes the season with wins over UCLA, Notre Dame and Oregon to close the season (assuming Oregon represents the North in the Pac-12 Championship). Especially if Notre Dame stays undefeated, this string of games would most certainly boost USC into serious consideration for the CFP. 

SEE ALSO: Heisman Watch 2014: Dak Prescott, Nick Marshall Battle For Top Spot

Buck Allen and the USC Trojans will have to win out to make a run at the Playoff. (Ben Dunn/Neon Tommy)
Buck Allen and the USC Trojans will have to win out to make a run at the Playoff. (Ben Dunn/Neon Tommy)
The winner of Notre Dame and Florida State this weekend will make the Playoff:

This one is a push, mostly due to Jamies Winston’s remarkable unpredictability off the field. For the sake of this prediction I am assuming he will play the entire season. Both teams need this win, but Florida State probably needs it a little more. With a rather easy schedule, Notre Dame is the toughest team the Seminoles will face all season long and they need to win this game if they want to keep their championship hopes alive.

Notre Dame could use this win too. With one of the hardest schedules in the nation, a win over the defending champions could help the playoff committee forget about another loss if the Irish were to lose again.

Baylor needs to beat Oklahoma to make it to the Playoff:

Baylor will not be the best one loss team in the nation this season, so the Bears need to stay undefeated if they want to make the playoff. Not too hard to do so long as they can take down Oklahoma. If Baylor loses, you can all but kiss their playoff hopes goodbye. With no championship in the Big XII, you lose a chance to get a quality win right at the end of the season to redeem the loss. Baylor needs to hope for perfection when it takes on the Sooners.

There won’t be a Big Ten team in the playoff this year:

They just aren’t good enough. The Big Ten is by far the worst conference and the rest of college football is just too good. It doesn’t help the Big Ten that independent Notre Dame is terrorizing the nation this season. If Notre Dame makes it in that leaves room for only three other conferences. So sorry, Big Ten fans - you won’t make the cut.

Most of all, let us all take a moment to feel bad for the playoff selection committee who has to choose only four teams after this crazy and hectic year in college football. It is easy to say it will be a harder decision than choosing the next pope and it could take longer than it takes the U.S. to pass a budget.

Reach Staff Reporter Alex Yeoman here



 

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