Kirk Herbstreit picks likely College Football Playoff upsets

Two teams playing in the first round of the College Football Playoff could be on upset alert, including Ohio State as it hosts Tennessee.

College football analyst Kirk Herbstreit sees two potential upsets brewing in the first round of the 2024 playoff. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

As we near the first round of a historic College Football Playoff, we could see an upset or two involving prominent teams, at least according to ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit.

Herbstreit joined the Pardon My Take podcast, and projected that a pair of Big Ten teams could make some noise, including one playing at home in the opening round.

“I would say IU,” Herbstreit said. “I would probably say IU would be. What’s the Tennessee spread? I’m not picking either one of those teams, but I mean you could make a pretty strong case if you’re a Tennessee fan or you’re going to bet on Tennessee.”

Indiana plays on the road against Notre Dame on Friday night, and Ohio State will host SEC challenger Tennessee on Saturday night, both of which could get interesting.

Herbstreit appeared to lean on the Vols taking out the Buckeyes for his upset prediction, and it could all come down to what happens on the line of scrimmage.

“Until you see the Ohio State offensive line more productive against a talented front, there’s no reason to think that both those games, that the underdog should have a shot to be competitive and maybe pull off an upset,” Herbstreit said.

While both Ohio State and Tennessee play some of college football’s best defense -- the Buckeyes rank first and the Vols fourth nationally -- OSU’s protection unit is down two of its best blockers after losing its left tackle and center to season-ending injuries.

That could be a real problem for the Buckeyes establishing offensive momentum against the Volunteers’ dominant front seven rushers.

But there’s another factor that could play a role in that game, and a rather embarrassing one for the home team.

And that could be the larger-than-expected number of Tennessee fans that might populate Ohio Stadium after a startling report emerged that almost half of the game tickets that were resold on the secondary market have gone to residents of the Volunteer State.

“Can you imagine?” Herbstreit said.

“They get 4,500 fans.. What’s Ohio Stadium these days? Over 100,000. You get basically 3 percent of the stadium is going to be in orange. You believe they maybe get 30,000 people in there? No way.”

More .. Ohio State vs. Tennessee prediction: What the analytics say

And ... Expert prediction for Notre Dame vs. Indiana

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