CFB: Week 1 Predictions
The college football season is only two days away, which means it is time to preview what is to come and predict what will happen over the span of the next couple of months; plenty of familiar names sit atop the AP Poll in Alabama, Clemson, Florida State, Oklahoma, and Ohio State, but there are also some middle level programs that hope to make a big splash in 2016-17.
The first major weekend of the season opens up with a handful of enormous games; No. 3 Oklahoma vs. No. 15 Houston, No. 18 Georgia vs. No. 22 North Carolina, No. 20 USC vs. No. 1 Alabama, No. 5 LSU vs. Wisconsin, No. 2 Clemson at Auburn, No. 10 Notre Dame at Texas, and No. 11 Ole Miss vs. No. 4 Florida State. Below, I ranked my top 25 teams, picked the winner of all of the main Week 1 matchups, gave my prediction for the College Football Playoff teams, and my choice for the 2016-17 Heisman Trophy.
Top 25 Rankings:
1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Ohio State
4. Florida State
5. Oklahoma
6. Michigan
7. Stanford
8. Ole Miss
9. Houston
10. LSU
11. Notre Dame
12. Baylor
13. USC
14. Georgia
15. Iowa
16. TCU
17. North Carolina
18. Washington
19. Tennessee
20. Michigan State
21. Oregon
22. Florida
23. Louisville
24. Washington State
25. Texas
Week 1 Predictions:
No. 5 Oklahoma 20, No. 9 Houston 24.
No. 14 Georgia 24, No. 17 North Carolina 16.
Hawaii 7, No. 6 Michigan 45.
No. 13 USC 13, No. 1 Alabama 31.
No. 10 LSU 27, Wisconsin 20.
UCLA 17, Texas A&M 24.
No. 2 Clemson 42, Auburn 30.
BYU 28, Arizona 30.
No. 11 Notre Dame 23, Texas 17.
No. 8 Ole Miss 26, No. 4 Florida State 30.
Read my full article; Predicting the 2017 College Football Playoff Teams.
No. 1 Alabama (projected 11-1, 7-1)
No. 2 Florida State (projected 11-1, 8-0)
No. 3 Ohio State (projected 11-1, 9-0)
No. 4 Clemson (projected 11-1, 7-1)
Heisman Prediction:
1. Deshaun Watson (Clemson QB)
2. Dalvin Cook (Florida State RB)
3. Leonard Fournette (LSU RB)
4. Christian McCaffrey (Stanford RB)
5. J.T. Barrett (Ohio State QB)
Photo Credit: Fansided.com.
