March Madness 2019: Predicting a 64-team College Football Playoff

First Round Results

South Region 

No. 1 Alabama 63, No. 16 Alcorn St. 7
No. 8 UAB 23, No. 9 Baylor 17
No. 12 Auburn 36, No. 5 Syracuse 23
No. 4 Texas 41, No. 13 Houston 17
No. 6 Fresno St. 30, No. 11 Georgia Tech 10
No. 3 Florida 44, No. 14 Kennesaw St. 17
No. 10 Troy 26, No. 7 Stanford 23 (OT)
No. 2 Central Florida 42, No. 15 North Carolina A&T 28

Midwest Region

No. 1 Notre Dame 39, No. 16 Nicholls 3
No. 8 Cincinnati 31, No. 9 Iowa 24
No. 5 Utah 28, No. 12 TCU 20
No. 13 North Dakota St. 34, No. 4 Kentucky 30
No. 11 Miami (Fla.) 27, No. 6 Northwestern 21
No. 3 LSU 37, No. 14 Colgate 0
No. 10 Buffalo 31, No. 7 Iowa State 19
No. 2 Ohio State 66, No. 15 Wofford 14

East Region

No. 1 Clemson 59, No. 16 Duquesne 0
No. 9 Wisconsin 24, No. 8 Appalachian St. 20
No. 5 Mississippi St. 34, No. 12 Boston College 7
No. 4 West Virginia 35, No. 13 Michigan State 7
No. 6 Army 37, No. 11 Virginia 21
No. 3 Washington 45, No. 14 Maine 27
No. 10 Georgia Southern 27, No. 7 NC State 24
No. 2 Michigan 58, No. 15 Princeton 10

West Region

No. 1 Oklahoma 70, No. 16 Jacksonville St. 24
No. 9 Oregon 34, No. 8 Utah St. 13
No. 5 Texas A&M 42, No. 12 Nevada 7
No. 13 Oklahoma St. 43, No. 4 Washington St. 42
No. 11 Arizona St. 42, No. 6 Missouri 28
No. 3 Penn St. 52, No. 14 Weber St. 16
No. 7 Boise St. 45, No. 10 Pittsburgh 17
No. 2 Georgia 56, No. 15 San Diego 7

The first round of action got underway with a number of double-digit seed Davids knocking off a higher-ranked Goliath. No. 13 seed North Dakota St. carries the banner for all FCS teams in its takedown of No. 4 seed Kentucky in a highly scrutinized matchup between Easton Stick and Bruce Anderson vs. an SEC-caliber defense.

Fellow No. 13 seed Oklahoma State shows its mettle in an upset of Gardner Minshew and Mike Leach, followed by an “aw, shucks” style interview from Mike Gundy. While the top twelve seeded teams took care of business against lower-tier competition, No. 12 seed Auburn unlocked some of its potential in a first-round defeat of Syracuse.

Not to be outdone, some Group of Five teams did their best gridiron ‘Cinderella’ imitation against Power Five foes. No. 7 Boise State was favored to beat Pittsburgh in its first matchup, and did. No. 10 seed Georgia Southern and No. 10 seed Troy showed that the top squads in the Sun Belt are at least on par, if not better than, mid-tier teams from the ACC and the Pac-12, while No. 10 seed Buffalo did the same for Mid-American Conference against a mid-tier Big 12 foe, Iowa State.