With the Big Ten entering the race for national champion, it looks, and feels like it’ll be a real college football season with the best of the best competing for that top spot. The real question is, which teams will make it to the College Football Playoffs?

Let’s start with the ACC and the Clemson Tigers. Last year Clemson was fourth in scoring with an average of 43.9 points a game. I don’t see Clemson slowing down this season, especially because star quarterback Trevor Lawrence is returning for his junior season with the tigers. I think Clemson will blow through the ACC and secure the top seed in the College Football Playoff (CFP) this year. The only real threat Clemson faces this season is this upcoming week when they take on the surprisingly dominant Miami Hurricanes. If they can win this test, it should be smooth breezing for Lawrence and the Tigers.

The SEC seems to be a surprisingly fun conference this season. The two teams that stick out to me are (of course) Alabama and Georgia. I have to acknowledge Alabama because of Nick Saban. The man is the Bill Belichick of college football and his teams tend to bounce back after seasons that end in bitter defeat. One thing to note is the departure of Tua Tagovailoa, so it’ll be interesting to see how the new quarterback, Mac Jones, responds in big games for the Crimson Tide.

Last year, Georgia lost to LSU in the conference championship, I think they’ll get back to the SEC championship and face a familiar yet different face in the Crimson Tide. It’s always difficult to predict who will come out on top in a conference like the SEC. Honestly, I just love the underdog story too much, so I’m picking Georgia. The two teams meet in mid-October which might very well be a preview of the conference championship. If Georgia can stun Alabama twice, I think they’ll have the second seed deservedly.

Although play for Big Ten football doesn’t start until the end of October, I expect to see Ohio State in the thick of it when it comes to CFP time. Ryan Day had an outstanding first season with the Buckeyes by winning the Big Ten championship in his first year. Now, I realize the Big Ten is stacked, but Ohio isn’t going anywhere. I don’t see any team slowing them down. Plus, they have  Justin Fields, a player still on the Heisman watchlist despite the shortened season. Yeah, They’re pretty good!

Now that I’ve covered the conferences that matter, we’ll get to the Big 12 and Pac 12. Oklahoma has been the team to win the Big 12 for quite some time. I didn’t see that ending this season until I saw the Sooners play. Wow! Are they bad! Two losses to two unranked teams. 

Yeah, It’s not looking good for the Big 12 right now. 

The only teams I could see winning the conference championship are K-State and Oklahoma State, but I don’t see those same teams winning or even making it to the playoffs. Still, it will be interesting to see what team runs away with the conference.

I don’t see a Pac-12 team making it to the playoffs, if anything all the promising teams will get destroyed by the losing-record teams, effectively ending any slim chance the conference has of making the playoffs.

When it’s all said and done this fall, I can honestly see a playoff featuring two SEC teams—most likely Georgia and Alabama. I also expect to see Clemson back in the mix, battling Alabama for the top spot. We all know Ohio State will be in the running, too.  

It should be a fun playoff to watch with various storylines to keep football fanatics intrigued.