Josh Pate Reveals College Football Playoff, Title Winner Predictions

The 2024 season kicks off soon as many are already looking ahead to the College Football Playoffs due to the 12-team expansion. Josh Pate of CBS Sports weighs in and reveals his early picks to make the postseason and win the National Championship.

Now, the playoffs are not going to comprise the top 12 ranked teams in the country, as automatic bids will play a factor. So, conference games are going to play a vital role in the seeding. Pate keeps that in mind while giving his predictions for this season's College Football Playoffs.

With that said, Josh Pate's playoff predictions certainly have some surprise teams making it to the big dance. The popular college sports analyst believes that the top four ranked teams will be Ohio State, Texas, Florida State, and Oklahoma State, in that order.

"I've got the top four seeds having first-round byes in this order. I got Ohio State, No. 1 team in the country entering the playoffs. Big Ten Champs. The SEC champion, Texas, I got as the No. 2 overall seed... I've got FSU as the ACC champion. No. 3 seed feels a lot different than last year already. Oklahoma State, there you go, you win your conference, you're one of the four highest-ranked conference champs. You get a first-round bye, you get the four seed."

That means Pate has Georgia, Alabama, and Oregon out of his top four teams to make the playoffs. However, the good news is Josh Pate believes all three of those programs will be in the postseason. Despite that, the order of the seedings could be quite alarming for som fan bases. Especially those of the SEC.

The 5-12 seeds for Pate's predictions are as follows:
Oregon 5
Ole Miss 6
Miami (FL) 7
Notre Dame 8
Georgia 9
Alabama 10
Penn State 11
Liberty 12

Those are some interesting predictions. Georgia coming in as the nine seed is wild considering how many people are favoring them as championship contenders this year. But it really does depend on how the conference games and championships play out.

As for who wins the title, Josh Pate reveals he believes the Final Four will consist of Texas playing Ole Miss and Oregon going against Ohio State. Overall, Pate's early pick to win the National Championship is the Buckeyes winning over the Longhorns.

"I've got Ohio State making it and I've got Texas making it. So, Ohio State vs. Texas is my National Championship game right now. "

Josh Pate does mention several times throughout his predictions that his opinion could change in the coming weeks. Perhaps by mid-August he'll feel differently about some of the teams on this list.

So, perhaps things will look differently in August when the season is even closer to kicking off than it is now. The 2024 season begins in Week 0 on August 24.

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