Final Pre-season Predictions

Here it is at last, my final predictions and my first ever college football playoff prediction. After months of data crunching, and analysis I have reached the pinnacle of my college football pre-season rankings and predictions. When making my pre-season predictions I use an in-depth analysis tool that I have developed through Excel, and I also lean on my years of experience watching college football. On any given Saturday in the fall my daily routine is this: I wake up around 5:00am, I put a good dip in, I chase whitetails for roughly 4 to 5 hours, I then come home and catch the end of church (that’s what I call College Gameday). As soon as the noon games kickoff I am immediately supplanted in my recliner cracking cold ones and watching the best sport ever. If you think this is an exaggeration you should speak with my wife. Over the years I have won countless (no really countless) bets on college football and I have decided that I need to inform the world of this special skill that I have inherited. I look forward to any and all followers of this blog to challenge my accuracy! I will also be posting predictions with and without the spread every week for the top 5 matchups of my choosing. Anyways….below are the predictions for the conference championships and the first ever college football playoff. #ReadEmAndWeap

 

ACC Championship

There’s only one team in the ACC that has a legitimate chance at making it to the playoff and that’s the Florida State Seminoles. Duke will be better and should have the best season in Duke football history but they’re not Florida State ready!  Clemson’s defense will be serious and they’re the only team that has a legitimate shot at staying on the field with Florida State. Florida State will be the only undefeated team left (out of the BIG 5 conferences) when the regular season wraps up, and that’s why they get my #1 ranking in the College Football Playoff.

 

Matchup: Florida State VS Duke

Winner: Florida State (13-0)

 

SEC Championship

There are 5 legitimate playoff contenders in the SEC. Auburn, Alabama, and LSU are all contenders out of the west. UGA and South Carolina are contenders out of the east. Florida will be much better but they’re not ready to contend yet. Ole Miss will win 9 games but they haven’t reached the upper echelon of the SEC West. There will not be an undefeated team at the end of the regular season out of the SEC. The competition is just too stiff and the west is stacked from top to bottom!

Matchup: Auburn VS Georgia

Winner: Auburn (12-1)

 

Pac-12 Championship

UCLA is a trendy team right now, and I hate trendy teams. However, I picked the Bruins back in June to win the PAC-12 and make it to the playoff. Oregon will win the north, but Oregon always slips up against somebody they shouldn’t. I have UCLA and Oregon losing one game apiece and UCLA’s schedule is absolutely brutal.

 

Matchup: UCLA VS Oregon

Winner: UCLA (12-1)

 

Big Ten Championship

After the loss of Braxton Miller the Big Ten is up for grabs, and when I say up for grabs I mean there are at least 7 teams that could wind up winning this sorry excuse for a conference. Michigan State will be good but they’re not as good as they were last year after losing a ton of talent on the defensive side. Ohio State’s defense will be stellar but their offense will struggle. Nebraska has Bo Pelini as a coach……enough said. Michigan has a quarterback that wears #98. Northwestern/Maryland could shock them all, and Wisconsin has Flash Gordon. I don’t know who wins this terrible conference, and I really don’t care because I don’t think they get a team in the playoff. I see every contender in this conference having 2 losses, which will force the playoff committee to choose the BIG-12 winner, because…well…the BIG 12 is better than the shitty Big Ten.

 

Matchup: Michigan State VS Nebraska

Winner: Michigan State

 

Big-12

The Big 12 has no conference championship, which apparently excites Bob Stoops, so I will just break down the winner. I have the Texas Longhorns shocking the nation and becoming immediately relevant again under Charlie Strong. I am huge on Strong and I think he will turn this Longhorn team around in a hurry! Texas will lose two games, they will lose early to UCLA, and then they’ll slip up against a BIG-12 opponent they shouldn’t. Oklahoma is the clear pre-season favorite and I only have the Sooners losing one game, but that game happens to be against the Texas Longhorns. Baylor is overhyped and overrated in my opinion after losing a ton of production on both sides of the ball. Oklahoma State will be down tremendously this year as they lose 27 seniors. Texas wins this one!

Winner: Texas 

 

2014 College Football Playoff

#1 Florida State VS #4 Texas

This sounds like a hell of a match-up. Two of college football’s most storied programs squaring off for a chance at the big one. I like FSU in this match-up as the Longhorns just aren’t ready for this kind of balanced attack.

 

#2 Auburn VS #3 UCLA

This will be a barn burner and could be one of the best college football games in the history of college football games. The score may be like 52-52 going into OT with these high octane offenses squaring off. I like the Tigers to pull it out!

 

National Championship

#1 Florida State VS #2 Auburn

Sound like Déjà vu? That’s because it is. A re-match of last year’s Natty is exactly what is going to happen. This time the Tigers win it and bring the first College Football Playoff trophy back to the SEC where it belongs. Florida State is good, but they’re not as good as they were last year, they lost a lot on defense and they lost their defensive coordinator which is HUGE! Nick Marshall in his second year in Gus Malzahn’s offense will make scoreboards explode all over the country. I like Auburn to win it all!