America's War Game

America's War Game

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America's War Game
America's War Game
Predicting the 2024 12-team playoff bracket

Predicting the 2024 12-team playoff bracket

Which 12 programs are going to compete in the 2024 College Football expanded playoff for a National Championship?

Ian Boyd's avatar
Ian Boyd
Aug 07, 2024
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America's War Game
America's War Game
Predicting the 2024 12-team playoff bracket
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I’m a little ahead of schedule this offseason in trying to project potential playoff contenders. The expanded field and particular rules governing who is included and where they are seeded made for a lot of fodder for speculation.

I’ve already laid out a lot of this over the last few months. For instance:

  • The bones of the 12-team playoff and which teams will get in.

  • Notre Dame’s chances at an at-large seed.

  • Boise State vs Liberty for the 12-seed and 5th conference champion.

  • The favorite in the new-look Big 12.

  • The picture in the SEC.

  • The picture in the ACC.

  • The picture in the Big 10.

Combine all of that content and you basically have a preseason magazine. Btw, my bud Paul Wadlington has his preseason book out that focuses on the Texas Longhorns and their SEC competition which I recommend.

Today I’m going to lay out which teams I think will end up in the 12 respective slots.

Then we’re going to switch gears to a different topic you aren’t going to get anywhere else. I’m going to explain which teams I think will be best equipped to WIN a 12-team playoff based on the likely dynamics of the bracket, overall format, and what styles will actually lead to postseason winning.

Honestly, that will probably be better than my guesses on which specific teams will get in. You never know exactly how these squads of 18-23 year olds will evolve from year-to-year but the fundamentals of what leads to postseason success are, well they’re exactly that. Fundamental.

But here we go, first up is the 12-team playoff bracket…

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