TCI College Playoff Predictions
By: rmacrae@bellsouth.net September 26, 2015

The college football season is underway so the countdown to the college football playoff begins.  Each week the TCI staff will give their predictions for which four teams will make the college playoff.

Here are the predictions after week three.

Robert MacRae – Ohio State remains one of the teams even though they haven’t looked as good as expected.  Alabama drops out this week and I’ll replace them with Ole Miss, but I’m not sure that the Rebels won’t lose at least one game.  TCU remains my third choice by they face a big test this week.  My fourth team remains Clemson.  There is a lot of love from the TCI staff for Notre Dame.  It looks like some will be predicting the Irish to win in the Valley next weekend.  I don’t buy that.  Clemson wins next weekend against the Irish.  Then some will jump on the bandwagon.

Hale McGranahan – Ohio State’s still undefeated. They won’t lose their No. 1 seed after almost losing to Northern Illinois. Connor Cook and the boys from Michigan State would have climbed into the top spot had the Buckeyes lost, instead Sparty is second. I gotta see the champ fall before they lose their top spot. That, or see some serious drama over the quarterback situation, one or the other. Alabama loses the three spot to the team they lost to, Ole Miss. The Fightin’ Hotty Toddies got just about every break possible in Tuscaloosa, so they’re subject to being jumped by the fifth team, Notre Dame. TCU remains at four, but wins over UMass and Clemson will move Notre Dame to three, if not higher.

William Qualkinbush – I see no reason to take TCU out of my playoff crew. The Horned Frogs easily defeated SMU in their final tune-up before Big 12 play begins. I also see no reason to dismiss Ohio State, even after a struggle against Northern Illinois. The eye test still favors the Buckeyes over Sparty, as does the late-season matchup between the two squads in Columbus. I am reinstating Notre Dame into my list after the Fighting Irish exceeded my expectations in a dismantling of Georgia Tech. I attempted to preemptively strike against Notre Dame by demoting it after an unfortunate rash of injuries, but I won’t make that mistake again. The newest addition to my playoff group is Ole Miss, who went on the road and defeated last week’s newcomer Alabama on Saturday. I worry about the stability of the Rebels, but up until this point, no team has proven more in the entire country.

Will Vandervort: I am almost certain the winner of the Clemson-Notre Dame game will be one of the four semifinalists for the College Football Playoff. The Tigers still have a difficult road to go down even if they were to beat the Irish on Oct. 3, but I believe, after three weeks, Notre Dame is the best team left on Clemson’s schedule. As for the Irish, they only have Southern Cal remaining and the rest of the schedule should more than be manageable.  The loser of this game is not totally out of the mix either. I believe this could be the lone loss for either team. I’m still not drinking the Ole Miss Kool-Aid. I’m sorry, I was not impressed. I still believe the SEC is weaker than people believe it is. Remember how good the SEC West was supposed to be? Well, only Ole Miss, Texas A&M and LSU remain unbeaten after three games. At this point, Auburn, Arkansas and Mississippi State don’t seem to be very good. Can you say overrated? I don’t think the Pac 12 is very good either. I feel Arizona will beat UCLA this week and will eventually lose itself, while Stanford, Oregon and USC will have at least one more loss. I still think the winner of the TCU-Baylor game will get in, and Oklahoma could throw things for a loop, but no one in that conference is any good on defense and that will catch up with them in one way or another. Right now, just based on what I have seen, the two best teams are Ohio State and Michigan State and I think the loser of that game will have a strong case for getting in the playoffs. Yes, Ohio State struggled last week, but it is still the best team in the country and its talent will show in big games. So my four teams are Ohio State, Michigan State, Clemson-Notre Dame winner and TCU-Baylor winner.

Ed McGranahan – Michigan State — South Carolina had three coaches with national championships on their resumes. Mark D’Antonio could be No. 4.

LSU — People also expect Les Miles to mess up along the way, but Leonard Fournette should help minimize the mistakes.
Notre Dame — This presumes the Irish beat Clemson, Southern Cal and Stanford. If not, Clemson may replace them.
Baylor — Picking a fourth wasn’t easy because there are reasons for passing on most everybody else. For now we’ll go with Art Briles’ prolific team.