Predicting 2017 NCAA Tournament based on 2016 football teams

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Nov 19, 2016; Chapel Hill, NC, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels quarterback Mitch Trubisky (10) looks to pass in the first quarter at Kenan Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports /

If we replaced the 2017 NCAA Tournament bracket field with college football teams from 2016, who would the national champion be?

In a perfect world, college football would have its own NCAA Tournament. Well, it could be argued that the sport has taken a major step in the right direction with the addition of the College Football Playoff, but fans of the sport want more — always.

While this won’t curb the hunger that fans have for more football, we have put together a list of predictions for the 2017 NCAA Tournament based on each school’s 2016 football team. This will give fans a dream scenario of what the perfect college football postseason tournament would look like, maybe with a few dozen extra teams.

Let’s take a look at our 2017 NCAA Tournament bracket predictions if we replaced each basketball team with that program’s 2016 football team.

Note: Not all teams that have made the 2017 NCAA Tournament have Division 1 FBS football teams, therefore they likely won’t advance (unless they’re playing another team without a Division 1 FBS program).

Play-in games

(16) Mount St. Mary’s vs. (16) New Orleans

Neither of these teams have a D-1 football program, so I’m going to just go with the city that has a decent NFL team — New Orleans. Pick: New Orleans

(11) Kansas State vs. (11) Wake Forest

Wake Forest showed tremendous improvement this season on the gridiron, but the Demon Deacons aren’t “there” just yet. Plus, it’s tough to pick against the legendary Bill Snyder and his respectable football program, especially after a nice bowl win. Pick: Kansas State

(16) NC Central vs. (16) UC Davis

No, neither of these teams have FBS programs, but they both have teams in the FCS. Unfortunately for UC Davis, it won’t be advancing in our football bracket because of its recent 3-8 season compared to NC Central’s 9-3 campaign. Pick: NC Central

(11) Providence vs. (11) USC

While it’d be easy to say USC by default, I’m going to say USC because the Trojans are a football program on the rise and they may just pull off an unbelievable run to the Final Four in our football bracket as the No. 11 seed. Pick: USC

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