Bowl games, College football playoffs and natty projections ahead of Week 1
With Week 1 ready to kick off, it's never too early to start thinking of bowls, Playoffs and even the national title. But instead of rendering a useless prognosticator's opinion, here's a chance to check in with Sportskeeda's tool – the College Football Playoff Predictor.
Anyone not familiar might want to spend a while with the Predictor, which is located here, along with some details of how it works and what it does. Long story short, the Predictor will take account of games already played (sorry Florida State) and forecast the rest of the season.
The only real human interaction required is the conference title games. For prediction purposes, the team with the best record entering the game was picked. If they both had the same record, the one ranked higher in the preseason poll was picked.
Bear in mind, no two runs with the Predictor will come out the same. With that out of the way, here's how it all broke down in a pre-Week 1 sim.
Sportskeeda College Football Playoff Predictor's Pre-Week 1 picks
The four teams gaining first-round playoff byes are:
1. Ohio State (Big Ten champs)
2. Missouri (!?!, SEC champs, beat 12-0 LSU in SEC Championship)
3. Utah (Big 12 champs)
4. SMU (ACC champs)
The rest of the CFP field is:
No. 12 Minnesota at No. 5 Notre Dame
No. 11 Penn State at No. 6 LSU
No. 10 Oregon at No. 7 Liberty
No. 9 Texas at No. 8 Ole Miss
This would be a wild field. Yes, four SEC teams are in, and Texas, Ole Miss and even LSU are not that uncommon as picks. But Missouri winning the league would certainly be a surprise. Ohio State and Utah aren't particularly shocking either, but SMU winning the ACC would be unusual.
This projected field has four Big Ten teams, with Minnesota sneaking in at the last spot ahead of Michigan, Iowa or USC. Only one ACC team was picked and likewise, only one Big 12 team got the nod.
Potential national title picks
This bracket would work out unbelievably well for Ohio State, with Notre Dame the only real obstacle between the Buckeyes and a spot in the national championship game.
This bracket, with Mizzou as the No. 2 overall seed and Utah winning the Big 12, sets up well for an upset to meet the Buckeyes. LSU, Penn State and Oregon would be the three teams with the best shot.
Still, if this scenario held true, Ohio State would have an unbelievably solid path to a national championship.
Other bowls and other questions
The biggest immediate question here is what happened to Alabama and Georgia? The Predictor did have Georgia at 10-2, falling just outside the Playoff and almost certainly slated for a top non-CFP bowl bid.
Alabama, on the other hand, went just 8-4 in this simulation and is probably near the Gator Bowl. Seven SEC teams ended up under .500 in this simulation.
Other than SMU, nobody in the ACC got above 8-4, leaving Florida State, Clemson and Miami at that mark. Again, some of those teams would almost certainly end up in the non-CFP bowl picture heavily.
Kansas was second in the Big 12, but not in the CFP race at 10-3. That league had five 8-4 teams.
Who would win the Heisman in this forecast? Probably someone from a Playoff team. One of the OSU stars -- like Will Howard, Emeka Egbuka or Quinshon Judkins could be contenders. Or No.2 Missouri might get Brady Cook the Heisman nod. For Utah, Cam Rising is the most obvious suspect.
What do you think of the Predictor's 2024 Playoff projections ahead of Week 1? Share your thoughts on the Predictor and this hypothetical world below in the comments section!