No bracket packs a punch like the annual 68-team NCAA tournament that takes place every March. Period. But this year it is 12 team College Football Playoff Bracket has enormous appeal, even for us hoops writers whose experiences with chaos and madness are largely synonymous with the months of March and April, not December and January. How could you look at this bracket and not Are you excited about what awaits us in the next five weeks?
We can hardly contain our excitement. It’s like Christmas arrives early. Maybe it’s just the sight of a new bracket – which we damn well know how to fill! — but in any case, we instinctively tend to spill ink on paper and make choices. Filling in brackets is in our blood.
So that’s what we’ve done below with every college hoops expert in the field of college football to do what we do best: fill in brackets. As you’ll see below, some of us are so used to madness that we know nothing but chaos. (Looking at you, Gary Parrish.) But there are plenty of other upset choices elsewhere. And note: none of us picked the No. 1 seed, Indiana, to go the distance.
Below, see how our endorsements stood out as we picked every game from Friday through January 19 – when a champion will be crowned in Miami.
College Football Playoff Brackets Picks
Gary Parris
I’d love to see it.
But I’m taking Oregon to upset Indiana in the national semifinals – and then I’ve got the Ducks beating Georgia in the championship game. So yes, I have a Big Ten team winning this – just not the Big Ten champion. Obviously, I don’t discuss college football the way I do college basketball, so I’m less familiar (on a personal level) with most coaches. But from a distance, Oregon’s Dan Lanning looks like a future Hall of Famer who could win multiple national titles — and the prediction here is that his first, and Oregon’s, will arrive on January 19. Choice: Oregon
Matt Norlander
1. We will have setbacks.
2. We’ll see some fantastic finishes.
3. The top four teams do not all reach the semi-finals.
So with that in mind, I’m leaning against the Big Ten doing this for the third year in a row, and having Ohio State win back-to-back titles. The Buckeyes lost to Indiana, and I love the IU story, but the talent pool in Columbus is ridiculous. Oregon is going to lose to OSU again, just like last year, but the Ducks look like a really fun underdog – if they can be – in this category. As for first-round matchups, my Tulane pick is straight up wishing for a non-Power-Four team to get at least one win in the CFP, after much of the slander thrown around over the past week and a half. Furthermore, it’s just plain stupid that the CFP committee chose to hold a rematch between Ole Miss and Tulane when they could have adjusted the seeding on either side to prevent it.
One last thing: I’m as much against expanding the CFP as I am against the NCAA Tournament. We don’t need more than twelve teams for this. The perfect balance between the importance of the regular season and inclusion in the postseason. Choice: Ohio State
Kyle Boone
As a single-elimination bracket champion – and therefore a lover of chaos – my brain can pick up signals from my heart and lead me to side with the underdogs. So imagine my own surprise when I filled in my bracket and it was almost all chalk.
That’s because this beefy group feels like the precursor to the two best teams of the entire season – Indiana and Ohio State – eventually meeting again with the championship on the line.
I’ll take the Buckeyes if my picks inevitably turn out that way.
No team has the talent or depth of Ohio State. Combine that with a desire for revenge and a chance to repeat, and you have the most deadly team in the field. They’re going back-to-back and the opportunity to do it with a taste of redemption at the end would make this all the sweeter. Choice: Ohio State
Cameron Salerno
The Big Ten Championship Game featured a rare meeting between the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams. While the stakes were high, it didn’t matter much in the grand scheme of the bracket. And that’s a good thing, because the only way these two teams can meet again is for the title next month in Miami.
Indiana and Ohio State are the top two teams in college football and are on a collision course to meet for the title. I’ll give Ohio State a slight edge in a rematch to repeat as champions. The ultimate X-Factor for the Buckeyes to repeat is Jeremiah Smith. After failing to win the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s top receiver, I expect him to show why he’s the best player at the position in the sport during the stretch run. Choice: Ohio State
Isaac Trotter
Oregon has everything it needs to win a title. An offense that generates big plays in its sleep and doesn’t shoot itself in the foot. A defense that gets off the field quickly. A dialed-in head coach in the mold of Dan Lanning, who is both an expert game planner and a no-nonsense, rah-rah guy. A sharp offensive coordinator in Will Stein, who has a mind meld with a precise quarterback in Dante Moore. This squad has also recruited at the level any national champion should, winning football games this year on offense, defense or even in the freezing downpour in Iowa City.
This road is undeniably cruel. James Madison has no chance, but Texas Tech in the quarterfinals? Woof, but winnable. No. 1 Indiana could wait next. Yes, I’ll take Lanning in a rematch. Ohio State, the reigning champion, in the finals? Good lord, what did I sign up for?
Sco ducks. Choice: Oregon
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