As the college football regular season is approaching its conclusion, questions begin to arise over who’s going to win it all. There are the favorites like Georgia and Michigan and the underdogs like Texas or Alabama. 

It feels wrong calling Bama an underdog, but being ranked 8th is a rare sighting out of coach Saban’s Crimson Tide. While Bama is playing worse than expected, teams like Washington and Oregon are playing high above expectations. Washington emerged as a college football powerhouse this season led by quarterback Michael Penix Jr. Head coach Kalen DeBoer has seen nothing short of success since he took the reins on November 29th, 2021. Since then, Washington has held a 23-2 record and sits undefeated at the 3 seed this season. Oregon football is headlined by Heisman frontrunner Bo Nix at quarterback. Sitting at 11-1, the Ducks camp right outside the top 4 placing them in heavy contention for a playoff spot. The playoff hunt also includes the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Texas Longhorns, who hold the 6th and 7th seeds respectively. 

For those who don’t know how the college football playoff works, it’s fairly simple; The nation’s top 4 teams are placed in a bracket and those teams are in contention for the National Championship. If the season were to end today, those four teams would be Georgia (1), Michigan (2), Washington (3), and Florida State (4). This seeding is always subject to change, but barring some major upsets it would seem these four have the best odds at this point at securing a National Championship. This article will primarily focus on these four teams as they’re considered the favorites to contend for the chip, however other teams will be mentioned as potential underdog contenders. 

Before moving on to the predictions, there’s a few circumstances to take into account. One being that the top seeded Georgia Bulldogs are looking to repeat as champs for their 3rd straight season. Georgia has been a college football powerhouse for decades now, producing NFL talent among the likes of Richard Seymour and Terrell Davis, and Hall of Famers such as Champ Bailey, Herschel Walker and Fran Tarkenton. On the other hand, Michigan hasn’t won the big game in over 25 years, and coming off a massive win against longtime rival Ohio State they have all the momentum they need to pull it off. MU has a similar history, having had players such as Aiden Hutchinson, Brandon Graham, and 7x Super Bowl Champion Tom Brady. Washington hasn’t risen to prominence until fairly recently, and that’s working out just fine for them as they’re yet to lose a game this season. The Huskies have plenty of current talent in the league such as Buddah Baker and Vita Vea, and Washington was home to Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon as well. FSU has produced defensive talent for decades now, headlined by current players Derwin James and Jalen Ramsey and Hall of Famers Derrick Brooks and Deion “Primetime” Sanders. 

Here are some more notable players that made it to the league from other potential contenders: 

Ohio State – Current: Ezekiel Elliot, Nick Bosa – HOF: Cris Carter, Jim Marshall

Oregon – Current: Justin Herbert, Deforest Buckner – HOF: Mel Renfro, Dan Fouts

Texas – Current: Bijan Robinson, Justin Tucker – HOF: Bobby Lane, Earl Campbell

Alabama – Current: Julio Jones, Derrick Henry – HOF: Joe Namath, Derrick Thomas

All together, the eight programs have combined for a staggering 50 National Championships over the course of college football history. Bama headlines this group with 18 – the most of any program in the country – and Oregon sits at the bottom with none in school history.

Now that some history is squared away, it’s time for predictions. Knowing that Georgia has steamrolled every team they’ve faced this year it’s tough going against them with my pick to win, but I think their luck is just about out. Two of their school’s four  total National Championships have come in the past two years (2021, 2022). If they went on to win another one, college football would go crazy. Of the top four teams right now, the only one I can see putting up a good fight with Georgia is Michigan. Michigan is on a 25+ year title drought and are having one of the best seasons in program history. Piggybacking off of running back Blake Corum and quarterback JJ McCarthy’s excellent seasons, I think that the Wolverines are going to ride their wave of momentum into the playoffs where they’d face off against the Huskies of Washington if the season ended today. Speaking of Washington, they’re one of my sleeper picks to win it all. Although I think facing off against Michigan will pose great challenges, quarterback Michael Penix Jr. has shown time and time again this season that he’s not willing to go down without a fight. Unfortunately, out of all the top four  teams I think FSU has the worst chances, as they just recently lost QB Jordan Travis to a broken leg. Barring a miracle, I wouldn’t be surprised if they even fell out of playoff contention all together. If this were to happen, I could see Oregon sneaking in and Bo Nix proving that he deserves the Heisman award. I think Ohio State could also weasel their way in there, but seeing how QB Kyle McCord played against Michigan I just don’t see them making an impact on the playoff. 

With that being said, my pick to win it all this year is Michigan. They’ve looked borderline unbeatable and now that everyone is back and healthy, they could look better than ever as we head into playoffs. Sure, it’ll be a challenge for the Wolverines to dethrone the Bulldogs but if anyone can pull it off it’s head coach Jim Harbaugh, who comes back from suspension this week to face off against #17 Iowa in the Big 10 Championship game. Michigan has got all the pieces to pull it off, and now it’s up to how bad they want it.