2022 College Football Playoff predictions, expert picks, most overrated and underrated teams
2022 College Football Playoff is set. Alabama and Ohio State are the favorites to claim two of the four spots. Defending champions Georgia will be without their starting quarterback and a few key players. Clemson and Oklahoma are facing uncertain futures. USC, Texas, A&M, and Utah are most likely to make the CFP. The programs are overrated and underrated nationally. The season starts on September 6th. It's just days away from the first game. There are many twists and turns ahead. CBS Sports has some predictions and expert picks.
Texas A&M's quarterback situation is questionable. The Aggies lack experienced depth up front on the defensive line. Consistency has been a problem for the Aggie's under coach Jimbo Fisher.
Notre Dame is starting the year in the top five of both major polls. The team is not overrated in a traditional sense. Notre Dame will still be good in 2022, but with a schedule that starts with Ohio State, includes a game against Clemson and finishes on the road against USC, there's a strong chance the team won't finish near the Top 5.
Oklahoma State will fall back to the pack in the Big 12 this year. Texas has won more than five conference games only twice since the 2009 BCS Championship Game. Tom Hermann was fired after the last season. Jerry Palm predicts Texas will get back on track once they get to SEC. The team is expected to be in College Football Playoff in 2022.
Utah is a contender for the 2022 College Football Playoff. Ole Miss is more important to the long-term success of the program under coach Lane Kiffin. Fornelli and Patterson predict Penn State will be ranked in the top 20 this year. Sallee thinks Ole Mississippi will compete in SEC West. Dodd predicts the Rebels will win the Sugar Bowl. For Sallea, the team that went to Sugarbowl was much more than its quarterback.
Kansas State is ranked 37th in the AP Top 25 despite an 8-win season and a three-touchdown thrashing of LSU in a bowl game. The Big 12 looks wide open at the top with five teams receiving at least one first-place vote in preseason media poll. Oklahoma is going to be very good under new coach Brent Venables. BYU is the only independent team that is consistently successful. It finished the 2021 season No. 13 in CFP rankings.
2022 College Football Playoff predictions.
Alabama won the SEC championship in 2021 and reached the CFP National Championship. Bryce Young is back at quarterback and Will Anderson Jr. is the CBS Sports Preseason Player of the Year. Alabama is a virtual lock to finish no worse than 11-1 in the regular season and cruise into the playoff.
Patterson picks Ohio State over Alabama and Georgia for the College Football Playoff. The Buckeyes have a high-powered offense and a talented defense. Georgia took its first regular season losses of the Ryan Day era last season. Pat Patterson also picks Georgia over the Tide.
Kyle Whittingham has been in charge of Utah for 17 years. He has a better winning percentage than James Franklin, Paul Chryst, Mark Stoops and Mike Gundy.
Ryan Day is in his fourth full season as the coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes. He has built a team that is going to overwhelm opponents on the perimeter and be disruptive defensively. It takes elite coaching to bring it home.
Brent Venables was hired as the new defensive coordinator at Oklahoma. Jeff Lebby was promoted to offensive coordinator. They think Venable will get the Sooners headed in the right direction defensively and implement Clemson's culture.
C.J. Stroud is the quarterback of an explosive offense at Ohio State. He will have video game numbers at the end of the season. Fornelli, Patterson, Sallee, Cobb and Palm are also predicting the winner of this year's Heisman Trophy.
Will Anderson Jr. is a consensus choice for the 2022 Heisman Trophy. He's a sophomore at Alabama and is considered the best player in the nation. No defense-only player has ever won the award.
