2025 College Football Playoff Predictions
Photo from The Columbus Dispatch
We are just a few days away from week 0. The beginning of the college football season is upon us.
Because of that, it’s time for a playoff prediction post.
Now, if you don’t know how the playoff format works, let me explain.
The five highest rated conference champions get automatic bids, and the remaining seven are at large teams that can come from anywhere. All 12 teams can be ranked in any way.
So here is this years top 12, followed by matchups and predictions.
Rankings
1. Texas Longhorns (SEC Champion)
2. Penn State Nittany Lions (Big Ten Champion)
3. Ohio State Buckeyes (At Large)
4. Alabama Crimson Tide (At Large)
5. Clemson Tigers (ACC Champion)
6. Georgia Bulldogs (At Large)
7. Oregon Ducks (At Large)
8. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (At Large)
9. Arizona State (Big 12 Champion)
10. South Carolina Gamecocks (At Large)
11. Illinois Fighting Illini (At Large)
12. UNLV Rebels (Mountain West Champion)
And now for the bracket.
Round 1
5. Clemson defeats 12. UNLV
I’m high on UNLV this year. I think their run & gun offense with Dan Mullen will be super fun and will surprise some people.
I’m also not insane to think they can somehow upset Clemson.
6. Georgia defeats 11. Illinois
Illinois is, in my opinion, going to follow the Indiana route by going 11-1 and losing big to Ohio State.
But hey, that got Indiana into the playoff last year.
It also didn’t matter, because they ran into a team much better than them in round one and lost, much like Illinois will here to Georgia.
10. South Carolina defeats 7. Oregon
The first upset not just of this bracket, but of all the first round of the CFP’s 12 team history.
I have seen Oregon struggle against running teams too many times last year.
Boise State. Penn State. Ohio State both times.
South Carolina can run the rock, and I think it’ll give the Ducks huge issues.
8. Notre Dame defeats 9. Arizona State
Notre Dame is too physical up front on both sides of the ball.
Cam Skattebo would have found a way to get something out of it, but Skattebo isn’t here anymore for ASU.
The Irish advance.
Round 2
1. Texas defeats 8. Notre Dame
This game is going to be closer than people think, as I think the Irish can put up quite a fight, but the Longhorns have too much talent and prevail late on.
2. Penn State defeats 10. South Carolina
Penn State controls the line of scrimmage, makes it harder (but not impossible) for LaNorris Sellers to make plays with his legs, and gets the victory.
3. Ohio State defeats 6. Georgia
Two very talented football teams, but I’m giving the edge to the side that has the two best players in college football with Jeremiah Smith and Caleb Downs.
5. Clemson defeats 4. Alabama
I think Clemson is a better team than Alabama this year.
But I had to make the rankings based off of how I think the committee will see them.
Alabama is in a tough SEC, and Clemson is in a weaker ACC.
If Clemson drops one game, it can hurt them in the rankings.
But when they face off, I think the Tigers are close enough in talent with the Tide than many think, and have a better quarterback.
I think Clemson makes the final four.
Round 3
1. Texas defeats 5. Clemson
But the Clemson ride stops in the semifinals as they run into an uber talented Longhorns team that now has a full season of Arch Manning under center.
3. Ohio State defeats 2. Penn State
Here is how I see this year going.
Ohio State defeats Penn State in the regular season, leading to lots of questions about James Franklin.
They meet again in the Big Ten title game, and Penn State gets their revenge and finally gets a huge marquee win over Franklin, their first over a top 5 ranked team since 2016.
And then, when all the hype is surrounding them, they face Ohio State again, and fall short one more time.
It’s the Penn State way.
National Championship
1. Texas defeats 3. Ohio State
Last season, Ohio State lost a close game to Oregon, which is a tough matchup cross country, and then lost at home to Michigan which, frankly, I’m not sure how that happened.
Other than that, the Buckeyes took care of business repeatedly.
Except for when they faced Texas in the CFP Semifinals last year.
Texas was about 10 yards away from tying the game and sending it to overtime, and they stifled a very good Buckeyes offense almost all night long.
And that was with a very up and down quarterback Quinn Ewers at the helm.
If Arch Manning really is what people believe he is, with a extremely smart offensive mind in Steve Sarkisian and an insanely good defense, this feels like Texas’ title to lose.
