An eight team College Football Playoff, it’s gonna happen sooner rather than later, and ESPN is the entity that will force it through. Of all the predictions made on this page, the following is the only one that I KNOW WILL HAPPEN:
ESPN and company will try to make the selection process as controversial as possible so you have to talk about it. Controversy, arguing and debate etc. drives ratings and creates revenue. All the media will play along, not just ESPN, and this will lead to the playoff being expanded to eight. (More on that here, like I said, ESPN President John Skipper will get this done)
College football lives on this hullabaloo and has for decades. For time immemorial it was “who’s #1?” You had multiple polls, UPI, Coaches, AP etc. Then came the BCS mess.
Now it’s who’s the fourth team, and what’s the fifth team that gets left out?
Next will be #8 versus #9. This will happen in the next couple of years, mark my words.
Big Ten title game: Ohio state over Wisconsin
Yawn.
Big Ten East (We break this division down in detail at this link)
- OSU 2. MSU 3. PSU 4. MICH 5. RU 6. IND 7. MD
Big Ten West (We break this division down in detail at this link)
- WIS 2. NEB 3. IOWA 4. NU 5. MN 6. ILL 7.PUR
ACC BIG 12 PAC 12 SEC Predictions
I sort of care about the ACC, a little bit, only because of Notre Dame, but predictions for other leagues outside the B1G
Again
The Sports Bank.net’s “home teams”
Notre Dame 9-3
They’ll lose to Clemson, USC and get upset by somebody along the way. Here’s the link to our Notre Dame season preview.
Illinois 5-7
They’ll start 3-1 again, with that garbage non-conference schedule, beat Purdue to a pulp and use Cubit’s razzle dazzle wazzle woozle play-calling to upset a good Big Ten team somewhere. Here’s a link describing in detail what Cubit brings to the table. And here’s the national perspective on what kind of coach the Illini could get in the long run.
Northwestern 6-6
Tough non-conference schedule, but NU seems to do better when the focus is shifted away from them. If the school made an active initiative towards distancing themselves from Darren Rovell I’d pick them to go 8-4.
Most over-killed and over-done storyline.
You already know the answer, because it’s already been over-blown already. We just did a whole separate article on it here.
So why not, cue up the Harbros again?
Next Illini Head Coach
Tim Beckman was the first coaching casualty of the season. P.J. Fleck or Doc Holliday might be his long term replacement. Here’s a link to our preliminary list of coaching candidates.
Illini A.D. Mike Thomas is fired by…..
….Columbus Day at earliest, Thanksgiving the latest. Here’s a link articulating what a disaster hire Thomas has been. Beckman was a disaster hire too by the way. Here’s a listicle of the ten funniest verbal gaffes he made during his tenure as Illini coach.
College Football Playoff:
Auburn, Ohio State, TCU, USC (Michigan State will have the resume but get totally jobbed.
Title game: TCU over OSU
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is part of the FOX Sports Engage Network. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes to the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. He also appears regularly on numerous talk radio stations all across the country. Catch him Tuesdays on KOZN 1620 the Zone.
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