2026 College Football Playoff Predictions
Photo by Rebecca Blackwell from The Associated Press
So far, in the era of the 12 team playoff, only 1 of the 8 teams that received a bye week have won a game.
That was, of course, Indiana last year, who went on to win the National Title.
So keep that in mind while we discuss who I think will be the 12 playoff teams, as well as who will advance from each round.
Here are my playoff teams for the 2026 season.
Ohio State Buckeyes (Big Ten Champion)
Georgia Bulldogs (SEC Champion)
Oregon Ducks (At Large)
Texas Tech Red Raiders (Big 12 Champions)
Texas Longhorns (At Large)
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (At Large)
Miami Hurricanes (ACC Champion)
Indiana Hoosiers (At Large)
BYU Cougars (At Large)
Alabama Crimson Tide (At Large)
Michigan Wolverines (At Large)
Boise State Broncos (PAC 12 Champion)
Round 1
Texas defeats Boise State
Boise State looks to have an easy path to the playoff as the 5th best conference champion with a quality team and an easy PAC 12, but this Texas team is super talented.
I don’t see how they pull off the upset.
Notre Dame defeats Michigan
What’s better than a rivalry being reborn in the playoffs?
It’s been a hot minute since these two teams faced off, and it’ll be the biggest spot and moment of Bryce Underwood’s career to this point.
Good luck against this Irish defense in South Bend, Bryce…
Alabama defeats Miami
Alabama, offense not withstanding, has an outstanding defense.
And Miami, despite Darrian Mensah being a good quarterback, will still rely heavily on Malachi Toney.
Alabama’s defense shuts down Toney, and the offense does enough to get the victory in a low scoring affair.
BYU defeats Indiana
Defense, defense, defense.
Indiana is going through another transfer exodus, and it’s worked wonders for them in the first two years of Cignetti’s career, but the times their offense struggled last year was against a great Ohio State defense, and a great Miami pass rush.
BYU has the front 7 to make life difficult for Josh Hoover and the Hoosiers, and that makes the difference.
Round 2
Ohio State defeats BYU
As I mentioned just now, BYU’s defense is really good.
The difference is, this time they have to shut down Julian Sayin, Bo Jackson, Jeremiah Smith, and now Chris Henry Jr. as the next true freshman Ohio State receiver to join the fold.
This Buckeyes team is just way too good.
Georgia defeats Alabama
Another very low scoring game, as both defenses look to be some of the best in football.
The difference is, I’m going to trust in Gunner Stockton more than young and unproven Keelon Russell.
Oregon defeats Notre Dame
This might be game of the year, up to this point.
Two fantastic defenses and two dynamic quarterbacks.
It’s honestly a coin flip, but give me the Ducks with a more proven running game to get the win late.
Texas defeats Texas Tech
A war of words between Texas coach Steve Sarkisian and Texas Tech head coach Joey Maguire comes to a head as the two face off in the playoff.
I think Texas Tech might go undefeated this year.
I also think that is, in large part, due to an underwhelming Big 12.
If Arch continues on his trajectory last year and performs well to get Texas to a 5 seed, they will be extremely battle tested against a good, but probably not great, Texas Tech team.
Round 3
Ohio State defeats Texas
Rematch!
These two teams face off in week 2 this year in Austin.
I predict Ohio State to get that win, and I predict that they’ll get the win again in the semifinal.
Oregon defeats Georgia
Something Georgia has struggled with defensively a bit in recent times are athletic quarterbacks who can avoid the rush and make plays with their legs, either on the run, or keeping their eyes up to make plays downfield.
It almost cost them against Georgia Tech and Haynes King. It did cost them against Trinidad Chambliss.
Even their playoff loss two years ago saw Riley Leonard run for 80 yards, even if they didn’t give up a ton of total yards all around.
Dante Moore is a guy that can make the plays that break the back of Georgia’s defense, and gets Oregon back to the title game.
National Championship
Ohio State defeats Oregon
Oregon didn’t win the title in 2010 when they faced an Auburn team that had basically nothing other than Cam Newton, and they even shut Newton down in that game!
Oregon didn’t win the title in 2014 when they faced an Ohio State team led by Cardale Jones making his third ever start, and while they had Heisman winner Marcus Mariota.
So I’m expected to believe they’ll win the title against an Ohio State team absolutely loaded with offensive talent and a top tier defense?
Yeah, not gonna happen.
