CBS 'second-chance' Playoff picks for Clemson at midseason |
Midseason redos of picks can come with some mea culpa among pundits, but that's not for everybody.
CBS Sports did its "second-chance" Playoff and more college football predictions and all but one college football writer has Clemson going to the Playoff now. That one contrarian is CBS Sports senior writer Dennis Dodd, who said it was a lock that Clemson would finish under the 10.5-win regular season total preseason, sticking with Clemson being left out of the CFP and instead picking a Playoff with two teams from the Big Ten (No. 1 Ohio State and No. 4 Michigan) and SEC (No. 2 Georgia and No. 3 Tennessee). He has Clemson finishing No. 6. The 3-seed is the most common projection for the Tigers and Ohio State is the most common projection for the top spot currently. The most common quartet is Ohio State, Georgia, Tennessee and Clemson, with Southern Cal drawing two picks as well. Ohio State is then the unanimous CBS pick for a national champion. "I could sit here and list all of the reasons why Ohio State's offense is elite ... but you probably already know them. What is important, though, is that its defense -- widely regarded as the Achilles heel of last year's squad -- is not just decent but elite," said CBS Sports writer Barrett Sallee. "It limits big plays and tightens up when it matters most -- two important factors that lead to defensive success. When you combine that dominance with the explosiveness brought by the offense on a consistent basis, you have the recipe for a national champion. Ohio State will run the table into the College Football Playoff and ride its elite level of complementary football to its first national crown since 2014."
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