More than one hundred teams have College Football Playoff hopes. The Saturday Blitz staff makes their projections on which teams will make it all the way.
Twelve. That’s the number of unique teams that received at least one vote to reach the College Football Playoff in 2017. The Saturday Blitz staff has locked in their final projections and there are a few new faces projected to meet up with some college football veterans.
This is the culmination of our Power 5 conference previews. If you missed those make sure you check out the projected champions for each conference:
Before we get to the final four. Here are the eight teams that received at least one vote.
Also receiving votes
Washington, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Oklahoma State, Penn State, Clemson, Louisville, Auburn
Oklahoma and Washington, a pair of previous College Football Playoff participants, came close to earning the nod for the preseason final four. After those two teams, six new College Football Playoff hopeful received votes.
Of these teams Wisconsin looks to be in the best position to break through. They play in a relatively weak Big Ten West and are nearly a lock to reach their conference title game. If the Badgers can edge out the Big Ten East Champ they’re going to be playoff bound. The same scenario likely exists for the Washington Huskies, who could see themselves in a winner-take-all PAC-12 Championship game this year.
The Big 12 is projected to be once more on the outside looking in. There’s a distinct possibility that the winner of the Bedlam rivalry game between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State could turn around and lose the newly reinstated Big 12 Championship game.
Penn State, Clemson, Louisville and Auburn, the four other vote recipients, each have significant obstacles standing in their way. Each plays at least one projected College Football Playoff team. Beyond that, each has some roster holes that will need to be addressed for them to make a championship run.
Here’s our final four.
4-Seed – Southern California Trojans
Unlike last season, each of our four projected College Football Playoff teams will be a conference champion. That includes more than one new name taking home a conference title in 2017 starting with the USC Trojans.
Sam Darnold and Ronald Jones will lead the Trojan offensive attack once again. Last time we saw them take the field they upended the Penn State Nittany Lions in one of the best Rose Bowl games in history. They’ll look to pick up right where they left off and honestly, the rest of the PAC-12 South is no match for the offensive juggernaut that the Trojans have become. USC was a top 40 scoring offense last season. They were held under thirty points in just three of Darnold’s starts last season.
The Trojans will face two big obstacles en route to their first College Football Playoff appearance in school history: Jake Browning and attrition. USC was able to hand Washington their first loss late last season. The Huskies made the College Football Playoff, but they haven’t forgotten how bad the Trojans made them look last November.
More: Game by game predictions for USC in 2017
Then there’s attrition. USC does not have a bye week in 2017. That’s an odd scheduling quirk that doesn’t seem to be that big of a deal, but it could impact the roster significantly and exacerbate injuries. Even though the division doesn’t look to be that challenging, even teams like Utah and UCLA become more daunting when you’re playing them in the midst of what feels like a never-ending battle.
Expect the Trojans to weather the storm and take their place on the national stage once again. Sam Darnold is a Heisman contender and the USC brand will get the nod in the event that a hard decision has to be made.
3-Seed – Ohio State Buckeyes
There are four active coaches that have won a national title. Urban Meyer is on that very short list, and he’s accomplished that feat three times. He took home the BCS crown in 2006 and 2008 with the Florida Gators. More recently, he bested Nick Saban and then Chip Kelly to take home the national title in 2014. He accomplished the latter with his third string quarterback, Cardale Jones.
The Buckeyes did not win the Big Ten in 2016. That should change in 2017. Their scheduled looks much easier, including a home game against Penn State before ending on the road against what is, at least right now, a very green Michigan team.
At this point it seems definite that the winner of the Big Ten Championship game is going to get a berth in the College Football Playoff. Can you imagine the firestorm that would be set off if Penn State, for instance, won the conference again but was snubbed in favor of the Buckeyes a second time?
More: Game by game predictions for Ohio State in 2017
The competitiveness of the Big Ten makes this looks like the weakest spot in the projections so far. Four Big Ten teams were ranked in the top 11 of the initial AP Poll. There’s a long season ahead, but teams like Alabama and Southern Cal won’t play nearly as rigorous as a conference schedule as the Buckeyes. The Pac-12 and the SEC are deep, but the top-level talent doesn’t compare to that of the Big Ten. Not yet.
Still, it’s foolish to bet against the Buckeyes and the College Football Playoff at this point. Despite an embarrassing showing against Deshaun Watson and Dabo Swinney a year ago, they’ll be back again this season ready to rewrite that narrative.
2-Seed – Florida State Seminoles
Jimbo Fisher is another one of those four championship winning coaches. He led Florida State to an undefeated season and a national title in 2013. Since then the Seminoles have gone a more than respectable 33-7 and have finished ranked inside the top 15 in each of the last three seasons.
Last season it was a narrow loss to eventual national champion Clemson that proved to be the nail in the coffin for the Seminoles’ College Football Playoff hopes. One loss might not have proved fatal had it not been for a forgettable disappearing act against Lamar Jackson and the Louisville Cardinals combined with a head scratching loss against North Carolina earlier in the season.
More: Game by game predictions for Florida State in 2017
Florida State is the most talented team from top to bottom in the ACC. They might have the best overall player in the conference with Derwin James patrolling the defensive backfield. He’ll line up alongside Tarvarus McFadden, forming one half of a much improved Seminole secondary.
On offense Deondre Francois returns with one more year of valuable experience under his belt. Replacing Dalvin Cook won’t be easy, but early reports have given rave reviews about incoming freshman tailback Cam Akers.
Clemson is losing a lot of talent this year. That will play out in the form of a few losses in conference play that will likely keep them out of the College Football Playoff hunt. However, they’re still good enough to beat the Tigers and make things interesting in the ACC. Things are shaming up for it to be a better year for the ‘Noles. Write them into the College Football Playoff in 2017.
1-Seed – Alabama Crimson Tide
Last, and most obvious, the Alabama Crimson Tide were the overwhelming favorite pick to reach the College Football Playoff. In fact, only one member of the Saturday Blitz panel left the Tide off his or her ballot. Instead of Alabama, Auburn was his pick to take the SEC’s spot in the playoff in 2017.
Auburn looks to have a lot of the pieces necessary to make a playoff run. The defense is stalwart. They can run the football. And if new transfer quarterback Jarrett Stidham is everything he’s supposed to be, they’ll be able to move the ball down the field through the air efficiently for the first time since Cam Newton was in town.
More: Game by game predictions for Alabama in 2017
But let’s be realistic. What’ most likely to happen? The Alabama Crimson Tide will make it through the SEC gauntlet somehow unscathed once again. At the very worst they’ll drop a game along the way, but every other team in the SEC finished with at least for losses last season. That gives Alabama plenty of cushion when it comes to retaining the division crown once more.
If total chaos reigns and Alabama manages to claim the conference title with two losses there could still be a compelling case for the Tide to be deserving of a College Football Playoff spot. That’s especially true if Nick Saban’s squad is upset in his season opener against Florida State. If that game is close, it’s all the more reason for the committee to work to set up a rematch of what could be the two best teams in college football this season.
Regardless of how it happens, it’s hard to imagine Alabama sitting at home when the College Football Playoff kicks off this season. Now that we have our four teams, here’s the official championship pick of the Saturday Blitz staff.
Champion: Alabama Crimson Tide (8 first place votes)
Also receiving first place votes: Ohio State (3), Florida State (1), Penn State (1), Oklahoma (1), USC (1), Auburn (1)
One second was the difference between Nick Saban’s sixth national championship and a runner-up appearance. Deshaun Watson’s pass to Hunter Renfrow with time running out was unlikely the first time. If Saban gets within a second of a national title this year he won’t be denied again.
Alabama is the easy pick to win the College Football Playoff. It’s almost a given that the Crimson Tide will finish on top of the college football landscape once more. However, there’s a reason why they place the games, right? When Saban does falter it tends to happen in spectacular fashion. Another infamous one-second loss came against Auburn in the 2013 SEC Championship Game. Do the words “Kick Six” mean anything to you?
Each of the other College Football Playoff participants earned a championship vote. All four are certainly worthy and once the field of four is set, anything goes. Urban Meyer has proven even the four seed can’t be counted out, even if they do match up against Nick Saban.
There is a lot of football yet to be played and plenty of margin for error in these predictions. Maybe one of the darkhorse teams picked to surprise by the Saturday Blitz staff will make a run and earn themselves a College Football Playoff spot.
Next: Ranking the top 50 players in college football in 2017
What do you think? Is making the case for anyone outside of Alabama a fool’s errand? Or was last season a precursor of things to come. Perhaps the mighty Crimson Tide Dynasty is coming to a close. Let us know in the comments or on Facebook or Twitter.