ESPN experts share updated CFP projections following wild Week 1
By Luke Greco
Published:
ESPN’s college football experts have updated their top 12 College Football Playoff picks following an eventful week 1.
In week 1, we saw 3 top-10 matchups. In the first one, No. 3 Ohio State took down No. 1 Texas and Arch Manning at home. Ohio State dominated defensively and didn’t allow Manning to ever look comfortable. Ohio State won 14-7. In the second top-10 matchup, No. 9 LSU traveled to No. 4 Clemson in the battle of the true Death Valley and beat Clemson by a touchdown, 17-10. LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier completed 28/38 pass attempts and threw for 230 yards and 1 touchdown on their way to victory.
On Sunday, we had our final and last top-10 ranked matchup of Week 1 when No. 6 Notre Dame went on the road to Hard Rock Stadium to face Carson Beck’s new team, the No. 10 Miami Hurricanes. The Hurricanes came out victorious as Beck completed 20-of-31 pass attempts for 205 yards and 2 touchdowns. Miami won the game 27-24.
These week 1 matchups caused a lot of shifting in ESPN’s panelists’ updated top 12 College Football Playoff picks.
Before we get into the new picks, let’s review the new 12-team format. Unlike last year, when the 4 highest-ranked conference champions received a first-round bye, this year, the teams ranked No. 1-4 will also be seeded No. 1-4 and will receive a first-round bye. Similar to last year, the five highest-ranked conference champions will receive automatic bids, and the seven highest-ranked remaining teams will round out the 12-team field.
Now, let’s dive into ESPN’s panelists’ updated top 12 College Football Playoff picks:
“Andrea Adelson: 1. Ohio State 2. LSU 3. Penn State 4. Georgia 5. Miami 6. Oregon 7. Tennessee 8. Notre Dame 9. Texas 10. Florida State 11. Iowa State 12. Tulane
Kyle Bonagura: 1. Ohio State 2. LSU 3. Penn State 4. Georgia 5. Miami 6. Oregon 7. Texas 8. Clemson 9. Notre Dame 10. Florida State 11. Arizona State 12. Tulane
Bill Connelly: 1. Penn State 2. Ohio State 3. Georgia 4. LSU 5. Oregon 6. Texas A&M 7. Miami 8. Iowa State 9. Tennessee 10. Utah 11. Tulane 12. Florida State
David Hale: 1. Ohio State 2. LSU 3. Penn State 4. Miami 5. Texas 6. Georgia 7. Oregon 8. Iowa State 9. Notre Dame 10. Texas A&M 11. Clemson 12. Tulane
Eli Lederman: 1. Ohio State 2. LSU 3. Penn State 4. Georgia 5. Miami 6. Notre Dame 7. Texas 8. Oregon 9. Clemson 10. Arizona State 11. South Carolina 12. Tulane
Max Olson: 1. LSU 2. Penn State 3. Ohio State 4. Clemson 5. Texas 6. Georgia 7. Oregon 8. Miami 9. Notre Dame 10. Utah 11. Texas A&M 12. Tulane
Adam Rittenberg: 1. Ohio State 2. LSU 3. Penn State 4. Georgia 5. Miami 6. Oregon 7. Texas 8. Clemson 9. Notre Dame 10. Florida State 11. Iowa State 12. Tulane
Jake Trotter: 1. Ohio State 2. Penn State 3. LSU 4. Miami 5. Georgia 6. Oregon 7. Notre Dame 8. South Carolina 9. Florida State 10. Iowa State 11. Texas 12. Tulane
Paolo Uggetti: 1. Ohio State 2. LSU 3. Miami 4. Oregon 5. Penn State 6. Georgia 7. Texas 8. Notre Dame 9. Arizona State 10. South Carolina 11. Florida State 12. Tulane
