Believe it or not, a week from tomorrow, we will have actual college football on our screens once again. We have finally nearly made it through the extended offseason slog, folks.
We now arrive at a decisive point in the history of the sport—a time of change and upheaval unlike anything we have seen in our lifetimes. One of these changes is the 12-team College Football Playoff, making its debut this December.
With increased access to the Playoff, the thought goes, we will have an entire new slate of contenders ready to stake their claims as national champions. Who will emerge?
Let’s take a look at how the slate may look come December. Who's in and who's out?
Rank | Team | Why They Are Here | Previous Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Georgia | SEC Champion | N/A |
2 | Ohio State | Big 10 Champion | N/A |
3 | Florida St. | ACC Champion | N/A |
4 | Utah | Big 12 Champion | N/A |
5 | Alabama | At-Large | N/A |
6 | Oregon | At-Large | N/A |
7 | Ole Miss | At-Large | N/A |
8 | Penn State | At-Large | N/A |
9 | Texas A&M | At-Large | N/A |
10 | Clemson | At-Large | N/A |
11 | Michigan | At-Large | N/A |
12 | Liberty | C-USA Champion | N/A |
As you can see here, I think it may well be a rough year for the SEC newcomers, and the normal heavyweights won’t be written off so easily. I've got Alabama over UGA in the regular season, but the Dawgs taking the SEC title game, and a similar situation with Oregon and Ohio State in the Big 10.
Kalen DeBoer will make some noise as the Tide head coach, Ohio State will finally break their three-game losing streak to Michigan, and the Oregon Ducks will make their way into the playoff for the first time since 2014.
These rankings will be updated week by week as the college football season continues on. The new format, prizing the top five-ranked conference champions, should be kept in mind here. It’ll be exciting to track the rise and fall of various teams over the course of the fall.