CFB reporter unveils College Football Playoff prediction for 2026 season, including SEC champion
By David Wasson
Published:
Everyone loves a bracket, and that includes college football fans now that the sport has a 12-team College Football Playoff bracket which every team in the country is pointing toward as the 2026 season draws near.
That includes On3’s Andy Staples, who has turned in his preseason CFP prediction bracket – featuring a familiar team taking home the coveted trophy.
The Georgia Bulldogs.
Staples has Georgia emerging from the No. 6 seed to win four straight CFP games and earn the program’s fifth national championship and first since back-to-back crowns in 2021 and 2022. A Georgia victory would also snap the Big Ten’s streak of three straight CFP championships.
Staples predicts that Notre Dame would earn the top spot in the 12-team CFP field, with the Fighting Irish advancing to the title game to lose to the Bulldogs. In all, Staples has four SEC teams in the 12-team bracket – listing Texas as the No. 2 seed and SEC champs to go with sixth-seed Georgia, eighth-seeded Oklahoma and ninth-seeded LSU.
The Big Ten land four teams in Staples’ 12-team preseason bracket, with conference champ Oregon earning the No. 3 seed, Ohio State as a No. 7 seed, Michigan as a No. 10 seed and Indiana as No. 11 seed.
The other teams in Staples’ field are the ACC’s Miami Hurricanes at No. 4, the Big 12’s Texas Tech at No. 5 and Navy at No. 12.
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
