ESPN’s panel of experts updated their College Football Playoff picks after a Week 2 that featured 1 SEC ranked team in Florida getting knocked off and another SEC team in Oklahoma pulling off a major victory over Michigan in primetime on Saturday night in Norman.
This is when everything gets interesting, as the early season nonconference games descend into conference season. One thing was consistent with 10 of the 11 ESPN experts — they believe that right now, defending national champion Ohio State would be the top-seeded team if the Playoff was staged now. But it isn’t, and that means there are roughly 3 months left of unpredictability.
The lone exception from 1 of the experts as Oregon, which earned the top spot by 1 of the 11 experts after its thumping of Oklahoma State on Saturday in Eugene. Other than that, it was Ohio State all the way from the other 10 experts.
LSU was seeded 2nd by 7 of the 11 experts after it improved to 2-0 on Saturday. The Tigers led the way among SEC teams, but Oklahoma was right there, too, after that huge win over Michigan, showing up on 6 of the 11 experts’ picks to make the Playoff.
South Florida, which stunned then-No. 13 Florida on Saturday night, showed up on all 11 of the experts’ Playoff picks. Naturally, the Bulls still have a long way to go to fulfill that prophecy, but they fired an early salvo by shocking the Gators in Gainesville. Time will tell if USF can stand the test of time.
Last season began the 12-team format that Ohio State conquered with its national title win over Notre Dame. That system is still in place, for now at least.
Rankings by the CFP selection committee will determine the bids that go to the 5 highest-ranked conference champions and the 7 highest-ranked remaining at-large teams. The top 4 conference champions will automatically be seeded 1-4 and receive first-round byes. Seeds 5-12 will play on-campus, first-round games (No. 12 at No. 5, No. 11 at No. 6, etc.).
Here are the latest Playoff picks from ESPN’s 11 experts:
Andrea Adelson: 1. Ohio State 2. LSU 3. Penn State 4. Oregon 5. Miami 6. Georgia 7. Oklahoma 8. Notre Dame 9. Texas 10. Florida State 11. Iowa State 12. South Florida
Kyle Bonagura: 1. Ohio State 2. Oregon 3. LSU 4. Penn State 5. Georgia 6. Miami 7. Texas 8. Utah 9. Florida State 10. Iowa State 11. Oklahoma 12. South Florida
Bill Connelly: 1. Oregon 2. Ohio State 3. LSU 4. Penn State 5. Georgia 6. Miami 7. Texas A&M 8. Tennessee 9. Florida State 10. Iowa State 11. Texas Tech 12. South Florida
David Hale: 1. Ohio State 2. LSU 3. Oregon 4. Miami 5. Iowa State 6. Penn State 7. Texas 8. Georgia 9. Texas A&M 10. South Florida 11. Notre Dame 12. Oklahoma
Eli Lederman: 1. Ohio State 2. LSU 3. Penn State 4. Miami 5. Oregon 6. Georgia 7. Texas 8. Notre Dame 9. Texas A&M 10. Iowa State 11. Florida State 12. South Florida
Max Olson: 1. Ohio State 2. Oregon 3. LSU 4. Penn State 5. Miami 6. Georgia 7. Texas 8. Florida State 9. Utah 10. Texas A&M 11. Texas Tech 12. South Florida
Adam Rittenberg: 1. Ohio State 2. LSU 3. Penn State 4. Miami 5. Oregon 6. Georgia 7. Texas 8. Notre Dame 9. Florida State 10. Iowa State 11. Tennessee 12. South Florida
Mark Schlabach: 1. Ohio State 2. LSU 3. Penn State 4. Oregon 5. Miami 6. Georgia 7. Texas 8. Notre Dame 9. Oklahoma 10. Florida State 11. Iowa State 12. South Florida
Jake Trotter: 1. Ohio State 2. Penn State 3. LSU 4. Miami 5. Oregon 6. Georgia 7. Florida State 8. South Carolina 9. Oklahoma 10. Texas 11. Iowa State 12. South Florida
Paolo Uggetti: 1. Ohio State 2. LSU 3. Oregon 4. Penn State 5. Miami 6. Georgia 7. Notre Dame 8. Texas 9. Iowa State 10. Florida State 11. Oklahoma 12. South Florida
Dave Wilson: 1. Ohio State 2. LSU 3. Penn State 4. Oregon 5. Miami 6. Georgia 7. Texas 8. Notre Dame 9. Florida State 10. Texas Tech 11. Iowa State 12. South Florida
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
