Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia Left Out of Desmond Howard’s Playoff Prediction

The ESPN analyst released a shocking College Football Playoff prediction.
Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia Left Out of Desmond Howard’s Playoff Prediction
Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia Left Out of Desmond Howard’s Playoff Prediction /

It’s Week Zero in college football, which means College Gameday premiered on ESPN for its inaugural show of the new season.

At the end of the program on Saturday, the Gameday crew made their annual College Football Playoff predictions. As expected, there were several that included Alabama, Ohio State and Georgia, the three favorites to win the 2022 National Championship.

But those picks were not held by analyst Desmond Howard, who released a wild final four.

Howard included Texas A&M (his SEC winner), Pittsburgh (his ACC winner), Baylor (his Big 12 winner) and Michigan (his Big 10 winner) in his College Football Playoff.

That means no Alabama, no Georgia and no Ohio State from Howard. Sure, Howard leaving out Ohio State can’t be too surprising as a Michigan alum. But leaving out Alabama and Georgia too? Blasphemous.

Howard ultimately picked Texas A&M to beat Michigan in the national championship.

The new blood in the playoff would be great for the sport, as many critics have pointed to the fact that the same three to four teams are always the ones to be in the mix to win the national championship.

Despite this bold claim by Howard, it’s highly unlikely that the College Football Playoff won’t include at least one of Ohio State, Alabama and Georgia at season’s end.

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Mike McDaniel
MIKE MCDANIEL

Mike McDaniel is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where he has worked since January 2022. His work has been featured at InsideTheACC.com, SB Nation, FanSided and more. McDaniel hosts the Hokie Hangover Podcast, covering Virginia Tech athletics, as well as Basketball Conference: The ACC Football Podcast. Outside of work, he is a husband and father, and an avid golfer.