CFP predictions: Can Notre Dame go all the way?
Nicole Auerbach and Joshua Perry break down their College Football Playoff predictions and why there is a clear top tier of teams that will compete for the title.
Video Transcript
But we are still technically in the preseason- I think enough to do some preseason predictions.
Yes.
Well, yes.
We had week zero.
You're- One of my predictions might already be blown up.
Well, that's why we, that's why we do it.
That's why we make Joshua do this, is to get something on paper, on the internet that- That I regret yep, that you regret.
Yeah.
And then we can prove that you are incorrect later.
So let's do brackets.
Okay.
Let's do preseason college football playoff predictions.
And Joshua, we'll go with your bracket first.
Yep.
So I'll just go through the teams kind of conference by conference here.
So I have out of the SEC, Georgia as the champ, and they are the number one seed in my bracket.
I've also got Texas in there.
They're gonna be really talented.
I think Sark's under pressure.
Oklahoma and Texas A&M make it in my bracket as well.
Out of the Big 10, Ohio State is the champ.
Indiana, Oregon, and USC, who we saw- Okay, so four Big 10 teams and four SEC teams.
Okay.
So independent, Notre Dame, feel like that one's kind of a layup at this point.
I like Tech out of the Big 12 still.
I know there are the questions after the summer that they had, but Tech- Do they have the quarterback play?
I think they have everything else- Okay is, is gonna be the thing to at least win that conference.
And they just signed Tommy Castellanos- I mean- as the backup quarterback what are we doing?
But neither here nor there.
Miami out of the ACC, they're gonna be head and shoulders more talented than the rest of the teams.
And then my group of six, which is the bad pick right now, was UNLV, but they already played in week zero and lost, so I don't know about that.
Well, they could still win the out West.
They could, but I'm just not feeling good anymore.
Well, okay.
That's good.
Your, your predictions lasted- Ah eight games before you immediately- This is a shame abandoned one of them.
We actually feel similarly on a couple of teams- Yes I think.
And, and we're gonna show my brackets in just a second, but I'm with you on Texas.
I have them in my bracket as well.
And it feels like it's a playoff or bust situation there- Mm-hmm just with all of the hype around Arch Manning.
Well, is it just playoff or bust, or is it, like, you know, semifinal or bust?
That's a good question.
So they were a couple plays away from playing for a national championship two years ago- Mm-hmm when Ohio State won.
And then last year was a huge disappointment.
All the hype around Arch Manning, all the hype around that team, I have them getting through the quarters, I guess- Okay right?
So that's where I see their season ending.
But this is, this is kind of reflective of how I feel in general.
If you look at my final four teams, got Indiana and Ohio State from the Big 10- Yep Georgia from the SEC, because I still trust them the most- Yep because of Kirby Smart, and I think the SEC goes through Athens, and then Notre Dame.
So two Big 10 and Notre Dame and one SEC.
We had the same final four.
Did we?
Just, yeah.
Okay, just different order?
I think it was just probably, yeah, different order.
And we both had Notre Dame winning the national title.
So I want to talk about that a little bit further.
Their season is gonna come down to just a couple of games.
Right.
But I think we both feel really good about the quarterback.
Yeah.
We feel really good about the defense.
Sure.
I just, I don't think there's a lot of questions about Notre Dame- Do you think- from a roster construction standpoint.
The, the one, the big one- Yes is the running back position- Right because you just lost two first round running backs.
Those guys were really good.
So there's gonna be a little bit more on CJ Carr.
But that's where, I think that's where you wanna be if you're Notre Dame at this point.
You know, your running back CJ Carr had a, a, I mean, shaky start to last year, and then played extremely well.
I think you feel pretty confident about letting your run game grow throughout the season knowing that CJ Carr should be a year more veteran, should be, you know, a, a guy who can win games on his arm alone at this point.
So for the questions that you would have, like, you probably feel like you're in a pretty good spot, that you have the quarterback and the question's the run game, and that's gonna have time.
Carr is a popular last name around here- Yeah, it is as well.
Lloyd Carr.
A little bit of a legacy.
Yep.
Lloyd's last year was my freshman year.
Not to be too much of a downer, but I was talking about this earlier.
My first game was App State.
Ah, I watched a highlight today.
Why did you watch a highlight of that today?
I think the anniversary of it was- Even because you were coming to Ann Arbor?
You just needed to- Well, I think the anniversary was yesterday, so it was lingering- It was.
It was on my timeline.
It was.
But so Lloyd Carr's final season before he retired was my freshman year.
Obviously Tommy Carr's here- Yep at Michigan, backup quarterback.
I want to talk about Notre Dame's defense- Yeah before we get off it, because you're a defensive guy.
Leonard Moore might be the best defender in the country.
Right.
So what do you expect from that group?
Because last year, like, my friends who are Notre Dame fans are curious because last year the defense got better, but the first two and a half games were a struggle.
Yeah, it was an interesting growth for that defense, because the first two games definitely felt like Chris Ash and his fingerprints on the defense.
Chris Ash was a coordinator I played for when I was at Ohio State, so I knew what I was looking at.
And after the first two games against Miami and Texas A&M, gave up some big plays, gave up some scores.
I think they kind of went back to playing how they were in previous years, and it suits them.
So I think it'll be a little bit more of a blend this year.
I think from a personnel standpoint, they're in a great spot.
You mentioned Leonard Moore, like, he is a guy who should, in theory, erase half of your field pre-snap.
So you feel pretty good from that standpoint.
As you said, not a lot of questions when it comes to this team, but I think their defense should hit the ground running.
Yeah, and obviously it's key for Leonard Moore to stay healthy.
Same with, like, Jayden G- Greathouse.
Right.
You know, some, some players that they have that can be excellent.
And I mean, I was at practice at Notre Dame last week, and the Carr to Greathouse connection, it looked awesome.
Yeah.
It looks great.
So you just need to keep him on the field and- Where's the revenge factor, is my question.
Oh, that's a good one, too, 'cause the last time we saw Notre Dame was when they were blowing everyone out because they thought they needed style points to make the college football playoff, but they also thought that they were in.
Right.
They thought they were playing for seeding.
Well.
And then they got snubbed, did not play in a bowl game.
I think that that, the revenge factor will certainly be there when they play Miami.
Okay.
And I think it was something that helped them focus throughout the off-season.
But I think now they're trying to, like, "All right, let's just get back to, like, one game at a time."
Do you think that style points are in the equation for them, knowing that they only really have the two marquee games that people are gonna be tuned into?
Yes.
Okay.
Absolutely.
Chris, Chris Ash said as much, that, like, this is a sport about pageantry- It is to me, and that plays into all of this.
Well, the other part, too, which nobody likes to say out loud, but there are a lot of people who make decisions and have a say in the sport that look at box scores- Yep instead of actually watching games, so.
Yeah, it's one thing that I don't love about the playoff era- Yeah that they incentivize running it up- 100 obviously, play offense.
Well, I actually do like that, though.
You do, you do, 'cause you don't think anyone sh- Listen, you practice hard all week.
Why am I gonna lay off because we're winning big?
Right.
That's what I came out here to do
