Year one of the 12-Team College Football Playoff is upon us, and I couldn’t be more excited!

For a long time, we had no playoffs in FBS football, everything was decided by a computer spitting out something along the lines of “Hey, these are the two best teams in the country, have them play for the championship.” Then, around 2014, people started to ask why we wouldn’t just let teams battle it out on the field for the right to be a champion, especially when the difference between the 1st and 5th best team in the country was almost negligible.

Finally, starting this year, we opened it up a bit to say “Every team that plays at this level needs a realistic path to play for the championship.” Now this is all a gross over-simplification, but here we are, on the verge of the first round of playoff games, with one of the most unexpected fields that could’ve developed over the course of this season, and I love it!! I have my own opinions on how the playoffs should be shaped (16 teams, all conference champs, etc..) but we’ll save that for another post.

Round 1 Matchups

A battle of whose orange will reign supreme. Two quarterbacks that played against each other in high school and two coaches with vastly different program philosophies. Should be an entertaining game even if it turns into a defensive slugfest.

Washed-up pick: Texas

A program that has shown flashes of incredible offense with an underrated defense, vs…. a program that has shown flashes of incredible offense with an (slightly less) underrated defense. This has all the makings of a game that can be an absolute shoot-out, a blow-out, or a defensive battle. Can’t wait to watch these two programs go at it!

Washed-up pick: Tennessee

The new blood vs the blue blood. SMU in it’s first year in a power conference in this millennium bullied its way to the ACC Championship and lost on a walk-off 50+ yard field goal. Penn State has a history of being number 3 in its conference behind two of the best teams in the country and they get their chance to show if James Franklin can win the big one!

Washed-up pick: Penn State

The in-state matchup featuring Smoking Cignetti vs Touchdown Jesus. Little brother Indiana will be aching to show it can topple the big bad Irish on the field. Expect a hyped up Indiana to come out with its hair on fire, but will it be enough to maintain throughout the course of the game vs a superior roster.

Washed-up pick: Indiana

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Tune Back in next week for my quick preview at the Round 2 games!