March Madness 2019: Predicting a 64-team College Football Playoff
By John Scimeca
Second Round
South
No. 1 Alabama 51, No. 8 UAB 23
No. 4 Texas 48, No. 12 Auburn 34
No. 6 Fresno St. 34, No. 3 Florida 28
No. 2 Central Florida 38, No. 10 Troy 21
Midwest
No. 1 Notre Dame 20, No. 8 Cincinnati 12
No. 13 North Dakota St. 42, No. 5 Utah 34
No. 3 LSU 23, No. 11 Miami (Fla.) 6
No. 10 Buffalo 35, No. 2 Ohio St. 31
East
No. 1 Clemson 44, No. 9 Wisconsin 3
No. 5 Mississippi St. 47, No. 4 West Virginia 38
No. 6 Army 28, No. 3 Washington 21
No. 2 Michigan 41, No. 10 Georgia Southern 38 (OT)
West
No. 1 Oklahoma 56, No. 9 Oregon 49
No. 5 Texas A&M 45, No. 13 Oklahoma St. 35
No. 11 Arizona St. 35, No. 3 Penn St. 28
No. 2 Georgia 31, No. 7 Boise St. 21
Tyree Jackson quarterbacks the Buffalo Bulls to a huge second-round upset of the Buckeyes, while Florida and Penn St. also fall. Georgia Southern almost pulls off a stunner against the Wolverines, and Mississippi St. sets up a delicious ACC-SEC Sweet 16 matchup. Conference matchups are still a key as everyone over-analyzes (but maybe with a good reason) each week’s results.
Fresno State manages to spoil a dream Florida-UCF rivalry matchup from happening with its surprise win in the second round; hey, it happens plenty in the basketball tournament, too. LSU defeats Miami (Fla.) in a rematch from Week 1 of the regular season. A pesky No. 11 seed that notably underachieved throughout the regular season, Arizona State, shows up on the road against the Nittany Lions.
The North Dakota State Bison, against all odds, continued its magical run into the Sweet 16 after a second-round defeat of Utah. A new debate alights on the quality of the top FCS teams and whether or not some at-large bids shouldn’t be reserved for the FCS, too.