Projected College Football Playoff heading into Week 1

College football Week 0 is in the book and as we look ahead to the first full week of the season, here’s our first CFB Playoff projection.

The first week of the college football season was pretty interesting. Northwestern pulled off a win that was anything but shocking and it didn’t even take one full game for the seat to get really warm for Scott Frost in Nebraska.

Yet, there’s a reason Week 0 of the college football season was just a taste. It was an appetizer really and while there were some tasty morsels, it was more like a side salad than chicken wings.

The real juicy plate will be served up this week as we have three top-25 matchups — No.11 Oregon vs No. 3 Georgia, No. 5 Notre Dame vs No.2 Ohio State, and No. 19 Arkansas vs  No. 23 Cincinnati. Plus, there is Utah and Florida, as well as Florida State and LSU on Sunday night.

So even though we didn’t learn much about the CFB Playoff race in Week 0 of the college football season, we are certainly going to learn a lot more next week.

That being said, we decided to offer up our final preseason prediction of sorts. We know the season has started but no AP Top-25 college football teams were in action.

That means that for all intents and purposes, the real chase for the CFB Playoff starts this week, and here’s the first of what will be a weekly projection.

2022 College Football Playoff Projection after Week 0

Peach Bowl: No. 1 Alabama vs  No. 4 Clemson

I’m a really big believer in Alabama and the Crimson Tide seem like they are ready for a tremendous season. It doesn’t hurt that they have the best quarterback and the returning Heisman winner in Bryce Young or probably the best overall player in college football in EDGE Will Anderson.

Nick Saban helps too. Plus the Crimson Tide added a bunch of talented transfers headlined by running back Jahmyr Gibbs from Georgia Tech or Jermaine Burton, a wide receiver from Georgia.

Clemson is my No. 4 team right now. The ACC is going to be more difficult this season but I believe the Tigers will be able to beat like North Carolina State, Miami, and Wake Forest.

The road game against Notre Dame will be difficult but the Tigers could lose that game, win the ACC and still wind up in the playoff. It won’t be easy but it could easily happen.

Fiesta Bowl: Ohio State vs Georgia 

This first projection is all chalk and we’ll find out this week if these teams are for real. But Ohio State should have the best offense in college football and the defense should be better too after getting DC Jim Knowles from Oklahoma State.

The schedule is challenging with Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, and Notre Dame but the Buckeyes get most of the tough games at home, including both preseason top-10 opponents (Notre Dame and Michigan).

Ohio State will win the Big Ten and its reward will be the same as Michigan’s last year, taking on a Georgia team fresh off an SEC championship game loss to Alabama.

The Bulldogs are going to be tough to beat and it wouldn’t be shocking at all if he had a national championship rematch between the Dawgs and the Crimson Tide.

Other contenders: Oklahoma, Utah, Michigan, USC, Texas A&M