The college football season is upon us and Week 0 is here, meaning we won't have to go another Saturday without college football until 2025.
UCF fans will have to wait a little longer to see the Knights on the field, but they can watch knowing they won't lose this week and just enjoy the games.
The new season brings a lot of new things, new teams in new conference, new rules, and of course a new playoff format. The College Football Playoff is expanding to 12 teams this season that will consist of the Power Four conference champions, a Group of Five champion, and the next seven best teams.
Georgia and Ohio State are yet again running the show on the AP Top 25 rankings, but as UCF fans know, the AP rankings are not the CFP rankings. Teams such as Texas and Oregon are nipping at the heels of Georgia and Ohio State waiting for them to trip up.
However, with this new format, a team no longer has to win their conference to have a chance at making the playoffs. So here is my first CFP prediction for who will be competing for a National Championship at the end of the season.
Rank | Team | Why are they here | Previous ranking |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Georgia | SEC champion | N/A |
2 | Ohio State | Big Ten champion | N/A |
3 | Oregon | At-large | N/A |
4 | Florida State | ACC champion | N/A |
5 | Texas | At-large | N/A |
6 | Kansas State | Big 12 champion | N/A |
7 | Alabama | At-large | N/A |
8 | Michigan | At-large | N/A |
9 | Missouri | At-large | N/A |
10 | Notre Dame | At-large | N/A |
11 | Utah | At-large | N/A |
12 | Boise State | MW champion | N/A |
Georgia and Ohio State are still running the show when it comes to my prediction, However, it is a fine line between the top two and the next three. Texas and Oregon are ready to take the lead if Georgia or Ohio State falters.
The Big Ten has just three teams in this prediction playoff while the SEC has four with the probable surprise of Missouri making it in. The Big 12 also has the ability to get two teams in with Kansas State and Utah not facing each other in the regular season and having the chance of playing each other in the conference championship undefeated.
The ACC really will only have one team in with Florida State winning the conference and realistically, the Group of Five will only get one team in with Boise State being ranked the highest.