College Football Playoff dark horse? Stewart Mandel makes surprising pick
By Keith Farner
Published:
College Football Playoff picks are largely the same collection of teams, especially lately, mainly with the likes of Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State and possibly Clemson.
Stewart Mandel of The Athletic shared his dark horse pick to crash the College Football Playoff, and it comes from the ACC. Mandel was a guest on WJOX’s Matt McClearin Show.
“When you look at the ACC, and the big overriding question there is Clemson going to go back to being Clemson,” Mandel said. “Or was last year a sign of trouble to come, and if it’s the latter, then I look at a team like Miami, who I think they’re maybe a year or 2 away from being that kind of team. But they do have a great quarterback in Tyler Van Dyke, Mario Cristobal’s made some great pickups in the portal, and frankly not a lot of competition, certainly in that division.”
Pitt, in his mind, is the only program that could challenge Miami, but that was largely before the Panthers lost Jordan Addison to Southern Cal.
“Could Miami be a team that sneaks up, like you said, much like Michigan, right, a program that is a big-name program that’s just not been able to get over the hump, that’s been Miami for 18 years,” Mandel said. “So it’d certainly be interesting if Mario Cristobal comes home to his native Miami and leads them to that kind of season.”
.@TheAthletic‘s Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) joined @McMattRadio and offered up one team who could arrive ahead of schedule and crash the @CFBPlayoff.
Hear the whole interview here: https://t.co/kOZvKQXbwU pic.twitter.com/vJ1egaEhq5
— WJOX 94.5 FM (@WJOX945) August 2, 2022
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
