Big Ten Football: 5 bold predictions for the 2017 season

1. Two teams make College Football Playoff

Since the implementation of the College Football Playoff in 2014, no conference has had more than one team make it as part of the final four teams selected to the mini tournament.

Last season, the Big Ten appeared to be the first conference that could have this happen. With four teams once ranked in the top seven of the CFP polls, there were many different scenarios in which two teams from the conference would get in. Understandably, other teams would have had to lose- which they did not.

We have already mentioned that four teams from the Big Ten have been voted into the preseason top ten poll. Of course, polls aren’t everything and they are especially not as meaningful as a couple weeks in or near the end of the season.

Despite this, they are something you cannot ignore and for right now- four Big Ten teams are in prime position to make a push at a CFP berth. This is not to say other teams in the conference are incapable of doing so as well, but as the leader of teams with most top ten teams in the Coaches Poll, the Big Ten has a good of shot as any to get two teams into the semifinals.

There is no doubt that the juggernauts of the Big Ten are going to be there when its all said and done. What it comes down to is who beats who. Michigan, Penn State and Ohio State all play each other throughout the regular season, while those in the West thinking about making a run will get a shot at likely one of those three in the conference title game in Indianapolis.

Next: College Football: Top 50 breakout candidates for 2017

They were close to doing it last year, and if we get the same type of bizarre scenarios looming towards the end of the regular season, for the first time ever we can and will see two teams from the same conference end up in the College Football Playoff.