College Football Playoff, New Year’s Six Bowl projections after Week 8

College Football Playoff

Fiesta Bowl

1 Ohio State v 4 Georgia 

Peach Bowl

2 Clemson vs 3 Alabama 

Despite the chaos and close calls, I continue to project the same College Football Playoff rankings as last week.

Bama continues to play well, but they’re nowhere near their best. A challenging road trip to LSU and Ole Miss awaits after their bye this week.

I expect we’ll see the real Bryce Young and the real Bama after. Alabama should be the SEC West division champs and meet Georgia or Tennessee in Atlanta. A win against either team and they’re going to go dancing. Here, we’re projecting the Tide to get healthy and locked in just in time. In a College Football Playoff National Championship rematch, we’re still taking Bama over Georgia. The win pushes Bama into the field, while top seed Georgia barely hangs on.

With the win, Ohio State takes the top seed and forces Georgia to lose out on a home playoff game opportunity, instead playing the 1 v 4 matchup in the Fiesta Bowl. Ohio State started off sluggish, but caught fire and rolled over Iowa 54-10.

If Alabama is in the dance, then the Clemson Tigers must not be far behind. Somehow, the Tigers survived a brutal game against Syracuse. The quarterback controversy will only heat up after Uiagalelei was benched for star freshman Cade Klubnik.

As inconsistent as the offense looks, they can still run the football, and they have a championship-level defense. In our projected field, we have Clemson figuring it out, and I have them finishing undefeated and the #2 seed, battling Alabama for the 4th time in the Playoff.

College Football Playoff National Championship

1 Ohio State v 3 Alabama

Eight weeks into our projections, and we continue to hold the line: Alabama vs Ohio State in the national championship. In a rematch from 2021, nearly all the pieces changed. Many teams (Georgia) will have something to say about this projection, but for now, we project the biggest stars in the game to meet in the LAnd of stars.