Fans across the country have waited an excruciating 234 days since the confetti fell on the Georgia Bulldogs in Indianapolis to cap off the 2021 college football season. That wait is finally over and a new season has arrived.
Looking ahead to the upcoming season, College Football Gametime gave their predictions for the 2022 College Football Playoff.
Jon Chuckery
- Georgia
- Alabama
- Ohio State
- NC State
Jon went pretty chalk with his picks for the 2022 College Football Playoff on the front end, but he seems very enamored with the Wolfpack of NC State.
Dave Doeren has that program in a very good position looking ahead to the 2022 season, but to this point, they have failed to get over the hump. They have not eclipsed 10 wins since 2002 when Phillip Rivers was under center. It hasn't exactly been championship or bust, but they have Devin Leary back leading the offense and this may the best team that they've had in recent memory.
Randy McMichael
- Utah
- Clemson
- SEC Champion
- Baylor OR the loser of the SEC Championship Game
Randy went a different route in his picks. Let him explain:
"I think Utah is going to run away with the PAC-12," McMichael said. "It's going to come down to Baylor because both Georgia and Alabama are going to be undefeated when they meet in Atlanta (in the SEC Championship Game). It's going to come to the same situation that we had this past year, whoever loses Baylor will have to go up against (their resume) as an undefeated conference champion versus the one-loss SEC runner-up."
Chris Goforth
- Alabama
- Georgia
- Ohio State
- Baylor
The Baylor Bears are fresh off a successful 2021 campaign that nobody expected. Dave Aranda was supposed to be in a rebuilding year coming off of a 2-7 record in 2020, but they wound up being both Big 12 and Sugar Bowl champions when it was all said and done. That isn't even to mention the fact that they had their first 12-win season in program history.
The Big 12 is up for grabs in 2022 and there seems to be some confidence that it could be the Bears snatching that crown for the second straight season. If they manage to run the table, or they lose and other teams stumble along the way, that could be enough to slip in as the final team in the four-team format.
Crazier things have happened.