One of the rising stars of sports media did a prediction mega-show on Sunday night. Josh Pate on 247Sports’ Late Kick put out his 2023 College Football Playoff predictions at the very end of an almost two-hour show, nearly double the length of a normal Late Kick episode.
The entire episode is a must-watch for any college football fan as Pate goes through every Power Five conference to predict each conference champion and, of course, finish with his prediction for the CFP. Pate also gave his production staff a big thank you at the show’s end.
Sadly, OU is not among Pate’s four playoff teams but fear not. This won’t be a wasted season.
Here are Pate’s playoff teams for the 2022 season.
How I see it this season pic.twitter.com/pS4O0LhcmP
— Josh Pate (@LateKickJosh) August 22, 2022
This is a fun playoff, regardless of Oklahoma’s absence. Firstly, Utah getting in for the first time in school history after another Pac-12 championship would be great for that program and for the remainder of the Pac-12.
While I’m not as high on Michigan as Pate is, if they go 11-1 with their only loss being to Ohio State, it will be hard to keep them out if the Big 12 champion has two losses.
Speaking of the Big 12, Pate has the Sooners winning the conference over Baylor, leaving the Sooners with two losses and another Big 12 crown. While not going to the playoff may not seem ideal, after all the instability the program dealt with in the offseason, a conference championship would be a huge accomplishment.
Pate had Oklahoma State at 9-3 and missing the conference championship, and Texas taking a step forward with an 8-4 record.
Pate called the Big 12 the most difficult conference to predict. I agree with him. More than half of the Big 12’s 10 teams could make a run for the conference championship this year.
If Oklahoma does win the Big 12 this year, getting into the CFP is absolutely a possibility if they can get out of the regular season with only one loss or less. The Sooners, with one loss or less and a Big 12 crown, are more likely to get into the playoff than the Wolverines with one loss and no Big Ten crown.
A major issue for the Sooners last year was that they didn’t beat any good teams convincingly. They played down to their opponents all season long, and their position in the College Football Playoff rankings suffered because of it. If OU blows out some of their conference opponents this year while going 11-1 and win the Big 12, they will make the CFP.
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