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ESPN college football reporters make College Football Playoff predictions after Week 3
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Though there wasn’t much appeal from the B1G in Week 3, there were some significant matchups that painted a little clearer picture of the College Football Playoff race.
No. 3 Clemson made quick work of No. 14 Louisville in a huge ACC matchup. No. 4 USC narrowly escaped against Texas in Los Angeles, which was a pretty big surprise. And No. 9 Oklahoma State obliterated Pitt, scoring 59 points in a blowout win.
So yeah, there were a few takeaways from the third week of the season, even if there weren’t many from the B1G.
After Week 3, ESPN’s panel of college football reporters were asked to provide their predictions for the top four teams right now, and who they expect to see playing in the College Football Playoff at the end of the year.
Here were the results:
- Andrea Adelson: Clemson, Alabama, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State
- Edward Aschoff: Alabama, Oklahoma, Clemson, Penn State
- Adam Rittenberg: Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State
- Mark Schlabach: Clemson, Alabama, Oklahoma, Penn State
Alabama, Clemson and Oklahoma are consensus picks among the four reporters while there is some disagreement among Penn State and Oklahoma State.
It’s also interesting that Clemson and Alabama each received two No. 1 votes while Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Penn State pretty much occupied the three and four spots.
Those rankings and predictions are hard to argue after Week 3. But there’s still plenty of football left. There’s no doubt some major changes will take place over the next few months.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB