Even January-March, I use my sports blog to post my constantly updating NCAA men’s basketball tournament bracket projection. That projection is then incorporated into the nationally renowned Bracket Project. No such project exists, to my knowledge, for the College Football Playoff yet, but now that we have 12 a team bracket for the first time ever, I feel it necessary to post my own projection of what that bracket will ultimately look like since we are now less than two weeks away from “Selection Sunday”. Just to be clear, this is quite different than the “projected bracket” that the CFP publishes through ESPN every Tuesday night. That bracket is based on each team’s CFP rankings at the present time. Here, I am actually projecting out the rest of the season and publishing what I think the bracket will look like after all conference championship games are completed on Saturday December 7th.

First, you will see each team in my projected field listed in order of what seed I believe they will get. Included in that chart is a column that states what I believe each team has to do in order to essentially clinch a bid to the CFP. You will see at this point, I have three teams locked into the field, as I do not see any logical scenario where Oregon, Ohio State, or Georgia get let out of this year’s playoff. The rest of the bids, however, are still up for grabs in my opinion. Below the chart, you will see my projected schedule, where I place each playoff game into a projected time slot/location based on these rankings. Feel free to argue or debate.

	Predicted Playoff Field
1	Ohio State	has already clinched CFP bid
2	Georgia	clinches bid with win vs. GT
3	Miami-FL	clinches bid with ACC title
4	Boise State	clinches bid with win over Ore. St and MWC title
5	Oregon	has already clinched CFP bid
6	Texas	has already clinched CFP bid
7	Penn State	clinches bid with win over Maryland
8	Notre Dame	clinches bid with win over USC
9	Tennessee	clinches bid with win over Vandy
10	Indiana	clinches bid with win over Purdue
11	Alabama	clinches bid with win over Auburn
12	Iowa State	clinches bid with win over K-State and Big 12 title

First Four Out:
Ole Miss	needs to beat Miss. State and then have either ND, Indiana, Tenn, Bama, or Penn St lose
Clemson/SC winner	needs to win Palmetto Bowl and then have two of the followning lose: Ole Miss, ND, Indiana, Bama, or Penn St
ACC title game loser	needs to lose close game and then have three of the following lose: Ole Miss, SC, ND, Indiana, or Bama,
Missouri	needs to beeat Arkansas and get a lot of help

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Projected Game Schedule:

First Round:

(5) Oregon vs. (12) Iowa State- Friday December 20th, 8:00 PM (ABC/ESPN)

(7) Penn State vs. (10) Indiana- Saturday December 21st, 12:00 (TNT)

(8) Notre Dame vs. (9) Tennessee- Saturday December 21st, 4:00 (TNT)

(6) Texas vs. (11) Alabama- Saturday December 21st, 8:00 (ABC/ESPN)

Quarterfinals:

Fiesta Bowl: (4) Boise State vs. (5) Oregon/(12) Iowa State winner- Tuesday December 31st, 7:30 (ESPN)

Peach Bowl: (2) Georgia vs. (7) Penn State/(10) Indiana winner- Wednesday January 1st, 1:00 (ESPN)

Rose Bowl: (1) Ohio State vs. (8) Notre Dame/(9) Tennessee winner- Wednesday January 1st, 5:00 (ESPN)

Sugar Bowl: (3) Miami-FL vs. (6) Texas/(11) Alabama winner- Wednesday January 1st, 8:45 (ESPN)

Semifinals:

Orange Bowl: Rose Bowl winner vs. Fiesta Bowl winner- Friday January 9th, 7:30 (ESPN)

Cotton Bowl: Peach Bowl winner vs. Sugar Bowl winner- Saturday January 10th, 7:30 (ESPN)

Championship Game:

Orange Bowl winner vs. Cotton Bowl winner- Monday January 20th, 7:30 (ESPN)