Death Valley hosting a Playoff game? A midseason ESPN projection calls for it |
A December College Football Playoff game in Death Valley? At least one midseason projection calls for it.
With a 12-team Playoff debuting this season, the first round will be hosted on campus sites for seeds 5-8 against seeds 9-12 (Dec. 20-21), playing for the right to take on the Top 4 seeds at bowl sites in the CFP quarterfinals. ESPN's Mark Schlabach predicts a 9-seed Alabama trip to 8-seed Clemson for that first round. He then picks the Tigers to move on to face Texas in a Peach Bowl quarterfinal, before the Longhorns eventually advance on to the National Championship versus Oregon. Elsewhere at ESPN, Kyle Bonagura picks a Clemson trip to Penn State as an 11-seed. At 247Sports, Clemson is the projected ACC champ as a 3-seed, taking on Alabama in a likely Peach Bowl setting. The winner would move on to face the winner between Ohio State and Georgia. CFN projects the same matchup, with either Georgia or Notre Dame waiting in the next round, and predicts a Bulldogs-Tigers rematch in the Orange Bowl on January 9. Georgia is picked to advance on to face Ohio State for the national title. CBS Sports picks a first-round rematch in Georgia, this time in Athens at Sanford Stadium with a 7-seed Bulldogs.
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