Early College Football Playoff picks for 2026: Big Ten depth, 2 elite SEC teams and some shockers
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome back to the Bill & Doug Show. Doug LaMaurice and Bill Landis. We're doing playoff picks today. We are going to pick our 12 teams for the college football playoff. It's March, Landis. It's way early, but I think it is important. I think we have agreed it is important over the course of us doing shows together that you got to get your thoughts out there and see how your thoughts evolve. So we are laying down first thoughts about the playoff bracket on March 3rd. Yeah, I think it's good. Obviously, you get more information as we get closer and closer to the season. So, as you said, our picks will evolve with that. This is, at least for me anyway, kind of like mostly vibes-based. I looked at some stuff, but I'm going to be honest.
This is not the most well-researched batch of playoff picks that I will have before the season starts. Yeah. I think it's helpful to just start your thinking about how you should think about college football. And one of the things I want to talk about is we did this on our old show, Kings of the North, March 5th last year.
What playoff teams do Bill and Doug predict for 2026?
We did this exact thing. And we made our 12 playoff picks and we were not very good. And in those picks, you got four playoff teams. Correct. You had Ohio state, Georgia, Alabama, and Oregon as playoff teams. I had three teams. Correct. I had Ohio state, Georgia and Oregon. I did not have Alabama because you couldn't have, paid me a million dollars to pick Alabama in the playoff in March last year. But one of the other things that happened is that you and I both had the next three teams out of the playoff in our playoff brackets last March, which were Texas, Notre Dame and BYU. And so like it, you know, there's kind of that like, well, you know, it's not about like, oh, we were close. We aren't as stupid as you think.
But it's just like, did we think about the season entirely wrong? Last March, were we kind of on it with a couple teams and it just didn't work out? And then there were a couple other teams that the whole world was on, and it's primarily Penn State and Clemson that both finished 7-6, that you had Penn State and Clemson second and third in your bracket a year ago and i had penn state and clemson first and second in my bracket a year ago and i think that has to inform to some degree anybody's thinking about playoff picks which is don't just pick everybody that the consensus thinks is going to make it because there's going to be a couple teams that people think are going to be good we're going to suck
Yes, and I think there's – you and I were discussing before we started recording this that Penn State and Clemson were both pretty high up there in returning production. I think Clemson was second last year and – or maybe first. That's a very easy sort of road to walk down when you have a team that is – you know at the power conference level that is historically good that has basically everybody back um that information is like not really available as of yet so but i think that's a good thing i think it's it's nice to not have that um perhaps pull us in the easiest direction although i will say like i i do feel like my picks are kind of chalky but um yeah i think you know last year told us that you should maybe try to swerve away from the group think at least a little bit
So it is one of those that's hard because a lot of people thought Texas, Notre Dame, and BYU were going to be good, and then they were good. They just weren't quite good enough, but it doesn't mean that you're nuts. Most everybody whiffed on Penn State or Clemson. I do think, as our thinking evolves, that I'm going to be on the lookout for a couple teams that everybody's kind of in on that I'm like, I think they're actually going to be pretty mid. I wonder which conference those teams will be from. I got a theory of the case. I got it. So I don't love my picks. I can't wait. Can I just give you my theory of the case? I was going to like run through other background stuff. Theory of the case. Yeah. The top-heavy versus depth discussion is going to flip this year.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:13–1:17
2
What playoff teams do Bill and Doug predict for 2026?
1:17–7:30
3
How did Bill and Doug's 2025 picks compare to their current predictions?
7:30–20:16
4
What factors influence the depth of the Big Ten compared to the SEC?
20:16–21:26
5
Which SEC teams are expected to dominate in the upcoming season?
21:26–30:15
6
What is the significance of transfer classes in college football rankings?
30:15–51:56
7
How many Big Ten teams are projected to make the playoffs in 2026?
51:56–1:02:34
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