In a year of college football, tons of changes has revamped the landscape of the sport including a 12 team playoff has expanded the college football drama along with a plethora of conference realignments. As the season winds down, a dozen college football teams have a chance to call themself champions through this year’s playoffs, with the championship on Jan. 20 in Atlanta, Georgia. The playoffs start this Friday Dec. 20, in South Bend with Notre Dame Fighting Irish taking on the Indiana Hoosiers.
With a new bracket, many fans are confused on how it may work. Winners of the power 4 conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC) will get an automatic spot in the playoffs. Boise State is also awarded an automatic playoff spot for winning the Mountain West Conference championship. And the rest of the 7 spots are filled by the best of the rest in College Football Playoff Rankings, filling the rest of the 12 team bracket, and having to play in the first round. Also new to the playoffs is home field advantage for the better ranked teams in the first round. Here is a preview of the first round matchups along with the teams with a bye week.
No. 8 Indiana vs No. 5 Notre Dame (Friday, 8pm ABC)
With an inner state battle, the Indiana Hoosiers look forward to their first College Football Playoff appearance in the school’s history. They will have to make the three and a half hour bus trip to South Bend, Indiana and take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Head Coach Curt Cignetti led Indiana to an 11-1 record in his first year with the Hoosiers, losing once to Ohio State on the road. On the other side, a hot Notre Dame team won their last 10 games of the season but only played one currently ranked opponent, beating the 22nd ranked team, Army, 49-14. Both teams have a strength of schedule outside of the top 50 while scoring 40 points a game. This will be the first meeting between the two Indiana schools since 1991, where the Fighting Irish defeated the Hoosiers 49-27. The teams will face off this time around on Friday at 8pm on ABC in South Bend, Indiana.
Prediction
Zach: 38-17 Notre Dame
Carson: 43-40 Indiana
No. 10 SMU vs No. 4 Penn State (Saturday, 12pm TNT)
Two new faces will join the College Football Playoff landscape as both Penn State and Southern Methodist make their first playoff appearance this Saturday. Following the conference championship loss’ these teams get a first round matchup at Penn State. The SMU Mustangs are on a historic 11-2 season in their first season after joining the ACC. There are doubts for SMU because they have a low strength of schedule and have gone 0-2 in ranked play, losing to both Brigham Young and Clemson. Penn State has a tougher schedule than SMU, while not having many notable wins. The only win being against a currently ranked top 25 team being 21-7 against Illinois. Big questions are around Head Coach James Franklin as his history with Penn State has a 3-19 record vs top 10 opponents, which includes SMU. The teams will face off on Saturday at 12pm on TNT in University Park, Pennsylvania.
Prediction
Zach: 34-27 Penn State
Carson: 38-21 Penn State
No. 16 Clemson vs No. 3 Texas (Saturday, 3:30pm TNT)
After their second loss in the season being to the now No. 2 team, Georgia, the Texas Longhorns find themselves at No. 3 with no first round bye, playing the No. 16 Clemson Tigers. The Tigers finished off the season with the ACC Championship after defeating SMU. Quarterback Cade Klubnik will be a key piece for Clemson as he throws for just over 250 yards a game this season with 33 touchdown passes. But still the Longhorns have an 80.5% chance to win according to ESPN analytics. The teams will face off on Saturday at 3:30pm on TNT in Austin, Texas.
Prediction
Zach: 24-6 Texas
Carson: 42-17 Texas
No. 7 Tennessee vs No. 6 Ohio State (Saturday, 8pm ABC)
The Buckeyes look to bounce back after a loss at home against Michigan, they look to take advantage of being in Columbus on Saturday. Will Howard had fans worried going into the second half of the rivalry game, fearing he might have suffered a concussion after a big hit, but as the playoffs begin, he’s labeled as active and ready to take on Tennessee. Both Head Coach Ryan Day and Offensive Coordinator Chip Kelly are having fans concerned with their play calling after the Michigan game. Ohio State will have to rely on their strong defense, which has only given up 11 points a game this season, the best out of any school in college football. On the other side of the matchup, the Tennessee Volunteers finished 10-2 suffering losses to unranked Ankasas and a really good Georgia team that won the SEC. Freshman quarterback, Nico Iamaleava, has had a great start to his young career at Tennessee as he has thrown 19 touchdowns in his first season. Iamaleava took a big hit and was taken out of their game earlier this season against Mississippi State, but was cleared within a week and is ready to go for Saturday. One of Tennessee’s big identities is their defense, only allowing 14 points a game on average this season. Both of these teams are in the top 3 defenses in the league meaning it might be a low scoring exciting game on Saturday at 8pm in The Shoe on ABC.
Prediction
Zach: 17-13 Tennessee
Carson: 42-31 Ohio State
Teams with First Round Byes
No. 1 Oregon
Senior Dillon Gabriel led the Oregon Ducks to an undefeated season knocking off other notable playoff teams like Boise State, Ohio State, and Penn State on their way to 13-0 and a Big Ten title in their inaugural season in the conference. Following their win in the Big 10 championship Gabriel was named AP Big Ten offensive player of the year and he sits 3rd in the Heisman rankings going into the playoffs. Oregon will play the winner of Tennessee vs Ohio State in the Rose Bowl Jan 1.
No. 2 Georgia
After surviving an overtime thriller to the Texas Longhorns in the SEC title game, the Bulldogs look to make a deep run in the college football playoffs. The biggest question for Georgia going into the playoffs is the quarterback position, Carson Beck has no timetable for a return after suffering an elbow injury against Texas. Which means Gunner Stockton will be the starting quarterback, who has never started a game for Georgia in his college football career. Georgia will have to await the winner of Indiana and Notre Dame to play in the Allstate Sugar Bowl, on Jan 1.
No. 9 Boise State
Following a dominant season in the Mountain West, Boise State finds themselves with a first round bye after defeating the UNLV Lobos in the Old Trapper Mountain West Football Championship. With star Bronco and 2nd place Heisman candidate, Ashton Jeanty, rushing almost 2,500 yards and 30 touchdowns this season. He helped boost the team into a place where many believe they can make a sizable run into the College Football Playoffs. After the bye, the Boise State Broncos will play the winner of SMU vs Penn State in the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl, Dec 31.
No. 12 Arizona State
After winning the Big 12 in their first year since joining the conference, the Sun Devils have not only made their first college football playoff appearance but also a first round bye. The Sun Devils are led by running back Cam Skattebo who averages 160 total yards a game with 22 touchdowns. Skattebo finished 5th in the Heisman Trophy voting on Saturday. They will await the Texas vs Clemson game to play the winner in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Jan. 1.
For the next month, these twelve teams will be battling in the first year of the expanded college football era to call themselves champions.
