5 college football programs that will make surprise playoff push in 2022

Making the College Football Playoff is never easy and sometimes there are surprise teams that make a push. Which teams could shock everyone in 2022?

The College Football Playoff’s expansion has been put on hold until at least after the current contract ends in 2025 and that means the field will be prestigious as ever for the next few years.

Over the years, very few surprise teams have made the playoff as the usual powerhouses like Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, Notre Dame, and Oklahoma have made the field. There have been some surprises such as Michigan and Cincinnati from this past season, Washington a few years ago, and Michigan State back in 2015.

As you can imagine, none of those four “surprise” teams won a single game in the playoff, getting bounced in the first round in blowout fashion.

Even Notre Dame was somewhat of a surprise and it, too, got knocked out early after playing some powerhouses.

After yet another exciting season which saw two of those surprises make the playoff, we head into the offseason with plenty of speculation regarding early contenders for the four-team field in 2022. There are the usual suspects of Alabama, Georgia, and Ohio State, but who else could make a push and shock just about everyone?

Note: I excluded teams that made the New Year’s Six in 2021 because they wouldn’t be much of a surprise.