Rece Davis Locks In Prediction for Group of Five Team in College Football Playoff

On the ESPN YouTube channel, Rece Davis revealed to Pete Thamel his selection for the Group of Five seed in the first 12-team College Football Playoff.

Thamel explained his pick just before ( which you can see here ) and Davis responded with a squad that has been right in the mix at the top of the Group of Five on an annual basis lately.

"I think the team that's going to come out of there as the Group of Five representative, I'm going to go with Memphis," said Davis, noting the personnel he likes.

"Yeah, they've got Seth Henigan coming back at quarterback, they've got Roc Taylor, who had over a thousand yards receiving, dangerous guy," he noted.

Plus, Memphis stepped up and made some big additions via the portal.

"Perhaps Ryan Silverfield learned from Mike Norvell, the former coach at (Memphis)," said Davis. "Because among the 29 guys out of the portal that he took to supplement his roster at Memphis, he took Tennessee's leading tackler in Elijah Herring and South Carolina's leading rusher in Mario Anderson."

Those imports, plus Henigan and Taylor, make for a loaded Tiger offense.

"I'm going to say Memphis, coming off a 10-win season, gets that last spot there," Davis asserted.

Moving onto the Memphis schedule, there are aspects to love or hate. The road slate is challenging for a Group of Five club, but that just means plenty of opportunity to bolster the resume.

"They are at Florida State on Sept. 14, they have to go to USF, they have to go to UTSA, who also could be in this mix a little bit," notes Davis. "They have to go to Tulane, who may be rebuilding. So they've got a little bit of a dicey road schedule."

If the Tigers can survive with a 12-0 or 11-1 record vs. that slate, the resume will be plenty strong enough to put Memphis in the CFP. According to Davis, they just might have the talent to pull it off.

"I think with some of the experience they have with all that FedEx NIL money coming in, that, you know, we're in good shape there," he added. "So I'm going to say Memphis gets the final automatic bid and the 12th seed in the playoff."

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