ake Yono

JY Journalism 

12/3/23 2023 College Football Playoff Predictions

Hey everyone, conference championship weekend just ended In college football and there is a lot to cover. Coming into the day the rankings were as follows. Georgia at 1, Michigan at 2, Washington at 3, Florida State at 4, Oregon at 5, Ohio State at 6. Texas at 7 and Alabama at 8. 7 of these teams played in their respective conference championship games on Saturday. In this article, I will be recapping these games and giving who I think the committee will pick and who I think should be in the last edition of the 4 team college football playoff.

Starting on Friday night In the last PAC-12 championship game ever Washington played against Oregon in Allegiant Stadium in Vegas. Washington started hot with a 17-point lead at one point, then Oregon came back and took the lead but the Washington Huskies hung on to win with a final score of 31-34. This eliminates Oregon from CFP contention and guarantees the 13-0 Huskies a spot in the CFP. Going into Saturday, Texas faced Oklahoma State in the BIG 12 championship at AT&T Stadium in Dallas Texas where they dominated and finished with a 21-49 win and an 11-1 record on the year with their only loss to Oklahoma. Next in the SEC championship, Georgia faced Alabama at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Alabama had control the whole game and won 27-24. Now this is what makes the playoff selection tricky because this was Georgia's first loss of the year and Alabama's only loss was to Texas who had won earlier in the day. I think any 3 of these teams can make it and go far in the CFP. Then in the last window Michigan blew out Iowa 26-0 and secured their spot in the playoff and Florida State beat Louisville 16-6 with a lot of backup players in.

Now let’s get into the prediction part of this article where I predict what the committee will do and what I think the picture should look like. For the 1 and 2 seed I believe the committee will honor Washington’s strength of schedule and put them at 1. This will then lock the Wolverines at the 2 spot. The 3 and 4 spots are up for grabs between the 4 teams Florida State, Texas, Alabama, and Georgia who lost in their conference championship. With Florida State, their star QB Jordan Travis and their backup are questionable but they still won a close game against the Louisville Cardinals. I believe the committee will honor this because FSU is undefeated and a Power 5 conference champion and they will be at #4. I think since Alabama beat the #1 team the committee will honor this and allow them to be in the college football playoff. My predictions for the committee are Washington 1, Michigan 2, Texas 3, and Alabama 4

This is just what I think the committee will do, let’s get into what I think will happen. Washington and Michigan will be 1 and 2. Michigan will drop because of its strength of schedule. Then since Florida State is very shorthanded right now I think they will not do anything in the playoff so they should be out in my opinion. Texas only loss was to Oklahoma in the regular season but they are still conference champions. I think they are great and should be in the CFP. Now let’s get to the SEC championship where one of the 2 teams should get the final spot in my opinion. Alabama's case it that they won the SEC championship but they lost to Texas which is questionable. Georgia’s case is that they have been #1 all season but they lost a tight game to Alabama in the SEC championship. I think the committee will put Alabama in but I think Georgia deserves the spot because a team that maintains the 1 seed all year should be in even if they have one loss. So my final predictions are Washington 1, Michigan 2, Texas 3, and Georgia 4. 

At noon we will find out what the committee thinks as this will be the last year of the current format next year in college football there will be conference realignment and the playoff will expand to 12 teams to give more programs a shot. This is the last year of the 4-team CFP era and we should enjoy it.