With the introduction of the 12-team playoff last season, it is becoming quite clear that making the college football playoff is more important than winning a conference championship.
Saying that, here are some of my thoughts on just who will make the 12-team field this upcoming season that starts next week.
I like Clemson as a potential number-one seed.
The ACC showed they could pull two CFP bids last season, as SMU made it with an 11-2 record, and not much in the form of quality wins. It is safe to say that the Tigers are one of the top two teams in the ACC. Clemson has two non-conference opportunities to build its résumé this year. The Tigers will be favored at home in their opener next week. They also have a rivalry game at South Carolina to close out their regular season. Wins over either, plus a berth in the conference title game thanks to a soft league slate should be enough to make sure a team that’s already held in high regard gets back into the playoff.
My underdog for another berth is Oklahoma. The Sooners, like Clemson, have fallen off some in recent years.
Former Clemson defensive coordinator Brett Venables has finally produced a dominant defense. He added an offensive coordinator-quarterback combination of Ben Arbuckle and John Mateer from Washington State to produce some offense. Arbuckle did wonders working with Cam Ward the year Ward went to Miami and won the Heisman. The brutal SEC schedule may keep the best version of Oklahoma from getting to the conference title game, but will give it enough opportunity to impress a committee.
I also like Utah as a surprise pick. The Utes should dominate the Big 12 in 2025.
An even longer shot that could come through are the Hokies of Virginia Tech. Tech has a relatively easy schedule. They could sneak in out of the ACC just like SMU did last season.
Virginia Tech has a disappointing 6-6 record last year. The Hokies never did recover from a season-opening loss to Vanderbilt. They ended up with four more one-possession defeats and battled Clemson, shutting out the Tigers in the first half, before falling late. If the bad record in close games isn’t a function of poor coaching, a turnaround won’t be so surprising. It has been quite some time since the Hokies have been a player on the national scene.
We learned this week that the playoff system may expand again. In a few years we may be looking at 18 or 24 teams vying for playoff berths. More changes. Changes I am not sure fans like.
