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Matt Barrie includes 5 SEC teams in 2024 College Football Playoff prediction
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Matt Barrie announced his preseason picks for the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff on Friday during an appearance on ESPN’s ‘Get Up.’
The ESPN college football analyst has 5 SEC teams making it into the 1st edition of the sport’s expanded Playoff, headlined of course by Georgia, which Barrie has finishing with the top seed when the dust settles on the regular season in December.
Barrie has SEC-newbie Texas finishing as the 6th seed, followed by perennial Playoff powerhouse Alabama, who Barrie has at No. 7 in its 1st season under new coach Kalen DeBoer.
Right behind Alabama on Barrie’s prediction list at No. 8 is Ole Miss, an SEC program that’s trying to finally squeeze its way into the Playoff after knocking on the door in recent years under the previous 4-team format.
Missouri had a breakthrough season last year under Eli Drinkwitz and is looking for more in 2024, and Barrie has the Tigers claiming the No. 10 spot in the Playoff.
The top 4 teams in the new format all get a bye, which for Barrie would include No. 2 Oregon (Big Ten), No. 3 Virginia (ACC) and No. 4 Oklahoma State (Big 12) behind top-seeded Georgia. The top 4 highest-ranked conference champions are slated to get a bye to the quarterfinal round.
Also, the 5 highest-ranked conference champs all make the Playoff, which is why Barrie has Memphis in the No. 12 spot as the American Athletic Conference champion from the Group of 5.
Other programs who earned at-large berths in Barrie’s projections are Ohio State, Penn State and Utah.
.@MattBarrie's 12-team CFP predictions are in 👀
Who did he leave out? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/jwQ1fehXJ0
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) August 23, 2024
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Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
