The 2020 college football season has turned topsy-turvy for a number of reasons, all pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the College Football Playoff will be impacted as a result. Among the Power 5 conferences, the ACC was the only one to start its season as scheduled, and independent Notre Dame agreed to play in the ACC for one year because of difficulties finding a consistent schedule without a conference alignment. The Big 12 and the SEC opted for a reduced schedule, with the Big 12 playing just one non-conference game and the SEC going with just conference play. The Big Ten and the Pac-12 initially announced plans to move their seasons to the spring, but after rapid COVID-19 testing became widely available, they started their seasons later — with reduced scheduling, and only in conference play. This means that the College Football Playoff committee will have some interesting questions to answer as they consider which teams should advance to the national semifinal.
As you consider your college football betting choices, let’s look at which teams have a real shot at getting into the tournament.
NCAA News: College Football Playoff Rankings Prediction
Alabama (6-0, leads SEC)
Alabama has three games left on their regular-season slate, along with a possible makeup of the postponement at LSU. Those opponents include Kentucky, #23 Auburn, and Arkansas, with just the Arkansas game on the road. It’s hard to imagine the Crimson Tide struggling against any of those opponents. Then would come the SEC Championship, which would either pit the Tide against Florida or Georgia. The Bulldogs would need to win out and see Florida lose twice in order to make it to the SEC Championship.
Could Alabam lose to a team like Florida or Georgia — especially what would be a two-loss Georgia team — and advance to the playoff? Of course they could, because the CFP committee goes with reputation as much as it does in on-field performance. So I’d say Alabama has a virtual lock on advancing — unless something drastic happens in terms of injury or COVID-19 cases. That happened last year when quarterback Tua Tagovailoa went down for the season with a hip injury, opening the door for LSU.
Notre Dame (8-0, leads ACC)
The Fighting Irish have a bye this weekend and then finish their regular season at North Carolina, at home against Syracuse and at Wake Forest. North Carolina is an opponent that can pose some questions, as the Tar Heels have an interesting defense and can score in bunches. However, they lack the consistency that they should need to knock off the Fighting Irish. That should put the Irish on a collision course with Clemson (see below). Would Notre Dame advance if they win out in the regular season but lose to Clemson in the ACC Championship? If that happened, I think you would see both advance.
Clemson (7-1, 2nd in ACC)
Remember, the ACC is playing without divisions in 2020, so the top two teams overall will meet in the conference title game. The Tigers finish at Florida State, at home against Pitt and then at Virginia Tech. With Trevor Lawrence back, the Tigers shouldn’t struggle against any of those teams. The Tigers really should have beaten Notre Dame with Lawrence on the bench, as they led by seven with less than 90 seconds remaining in regulation but stopped the clock twice, once with a holding penalty and once with a boneheaded decision by Travis Etienne to run out of bounds, giving the Irish enough time to mount a 91-yard drive that, once again, should not have made its way through a Clemson defense that prides itself on its shutdown plays. Could Clemson make the playoff if they lose to Notre Dame twice? That would depend on how a two-loss Florida team looked in the SEC Championship, in terms of how closely they played Alabama, and whether Cincinnati or BYU can get any momentum down the stretch — and whether Oregon can get any momentum.
Ohio State (3-0)
In terms of losses, the Buckeyes are tied atop the Big Ten East. They can’t afford to lose any more games if they want to be eligible for the Big Ten Championship, and their next test is a visit from the Indiana Hoosiers. A loss to the Hoosiers would send the CFP into chaos, making a real case for teams like a two-loss Florida team, Cincinnati and BYU to make their case, especially if either of those two mid-majors can finish the season unbeaten. The Buckeyes’ offense has been consistently productive, so they should be able to handle Indiana and then move into the rest of their schedule, which offers nothing difficult afterward, as they play at Illinois and Michigan State before hosting Michigan.
College Football Betting Odds
Love betting NCAA football? | Xbet Sportsbook offers up to date college football lines
