ESPN reporters update College Football Playoff picks after SEC’s Week 12
By Keith Farner
Published:
With the conference championship games set for this week, the final movement of the College Football Playoff contenders will come to end next weekend.
Alabama will meet Florida, Ohio State will face Northwestern and Clemson gets a rematch with Notre Dame in the most consequential conference championships in the context of the final CFP picks.
ESPN writers, like many other people making similar picks, largely kept their picks from recent weeks the same, even though there was news earlier in the week that Ohio State would be eligible for the Big Ten title game. Alabama and Notre Dame remained the most popular two teams in the hunt.
ESPN noted that two votes for Cincinnati and another for Texas A&M for the fourth playoff spot keep the Buckeyes from being a unanimous selection this week. It’s yet to be known if the Playoff selection committee will hold the lack of games played against Ohio State.
SEC fans who want a second SEC team in the Playoff might root for Notre Dame this week if they believe a second Clemson loss would knock the Tigers out of contention.
The last time the two teams met, the Fighting Irish outlasted the Tigers, 47-40, at home in double overtime. This game will likely have the biggest impact on the final CFP rankings unless Florida upsets Alabama that night.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
