[needle]

My best guess is that a two-loss team will win the Pac this year. Too many good-to-very-good teams, plus dangerous ones like Washington State.

In that scenario, I don't see the Pac champion getting to the playoff, but I do think that there's probably more parity across the board in college football than in years past. So, root for a lot of upsets, I guess.

Surprisingly, I think that the college football playoff this year is already very predictable: undefeated Ohio State, one-loss Bama/undefeated or one-loss LSU, undefeated Clemson/Florida State.

But who would get the fourth slot? Both Baylor and TCU have a much better chance of going undefeated than Utah, that's for sure. Even if it's a one-loss Baylor/TCU against a one-loss Pac team, I'm not sure who wins that beauty contest, especially given the Big 12's exclusion from the playoff last year.

In my just-for-fun projections for the season, 'Bama would ideally get the same scrutiny as the Pac winner and Big 12 winner, as their out-of-conference schedule of Wisconsin, Middle Tennessee, Louisiana-Monroe, and Charleston Southern is a joke. LSU's is even worse: Syracuse, Eastern Michigan and Western Kentucky, with a game against McNeese State already canceled. But that's not quite yet the world we live in...

[needle]

My best guess is that a two-loss team will win the Pac this year. Too many good-to-very-good teams, plus dangerous ones like Washington State.

In that scenario, I don't see the Pac champion getting to the playoff, but I do think that there's probably more parity across the board in college football than in years past. So, root for a lot of upsets, I guess.

Surprisingly, I think that the college football playoff this year is already very predictable: undefeated Ohio State, one-loss Bama/undefeated or one-loss LSU, undefeated Clemson/Florida State.

But who would get the fourth slot? Both Baylor and TCU have a much better chance of going undefeated than Utah, that's for sure. Even if it's a one-loss Baylor/TCU against a one-loss Pac team, I'm not sure who wins that beauty contest, especially given the Big 12's exclusion from the playoff last year.

In my just-for-fun projections for the season, 'Bama would ideally get the same scrutiny as the Pac winner and Big 12 winner, as their out-of-conference schedule of Wisconsin, Middle Tennessee, Louisiana-Monroe, and Charleston Southern is a joke. LSU's is even worse: Syracuse, Eastern Michigan and Western Kentucky, with a game against McNeese State already canceled. But that's not quite yet the world we live in...