2024 Preseason 12-team College Football Playoff rankings prediction features incredible matchups
The 2024 college football season gets underway in just a little over a week, with Week 0 action kicking off August 24. And this college football season will be a unlike anything we've seen previously.
The "Super-League" era of the sport is effectively underway with the SEC and Big Ten adding powerhouse programs while the Big 12 and ACC have ballooned in size (dissolving the Pac-12 in the process). And just in time for the start of mass-conference realignment is a major change to the sport's postseason.
The 12-Team College Football Playoff begins this season, a huge shift for the FBS level. We'll have teams earning byes, playoff games played on campuses, and biggest of all, a far-bigger field of teams to fill out, which means far more teams will be in the playoff race this fall.
It's an incredibly exciting and interesting time for college football. With the release of the preseason AP Poll, we have an idea of which teams are expected to find themselves in playoff contention this season. But who will ultimately make the final 12-team field? Here are my playoff predictions as we enter the season...
Preseason 2024 College Football Playoff Predictions
Rank | Team | Why They Are Here | Previous Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
1. | Georgia | SEC Champion | N/A |
2. | Ohio State | Big Ten Champion | N/A |
3. | Miami | ACC Champion | N/A |
4. | Utah | Big 12 Champion | N/A |
5. | Texas | At-Large | N/A |
6. | Oregon | At-Large | N/A |
7. | Alabama | At-Large | N/A |
8. | Clemson | At-Large | N/A |
9. | Penn State | At-Large | N/A |
10. | Ole Miss | At-Large | N/A |
11. | Oklahoma State | At-Large | N/A |
12. | Boise State | Highest-Ranked G5 Champion | N/A |
The top-four seeds will go to the four highest-ranked conference champions, with these teams earning first-round byes. Georgia, Ohio State, and Big-12 newcomer Utah aren't at all surprising selections, but I'm buying into the hype around Miami that this will finally be the year the Canes win the ACC.
SEC and Big Ten runner-ups Texas and Oregon will easily make the playoffs as the next-highest seeds, hosting playoff games in their home stadiums against Group of 5 representative Boise State and Big 12 runner-up Oklahoma State, respectively. I've got 7-seed Alabama and 10-seed Ole Miss meeting in a SEC showdown in Tuscaloosa while the 8/9 game features a pair of major brands between Clemson and Penn State.
If those first-round matchups were to come to fruition, they would provide for an incredible weekend of games for the 12-team playoff's inaugural season. This should be an outstanding season of college football.
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