Every 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 just a week 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 next weekend’s conference championship games and publishing what I think the bracket will look like when the final edition is revealed next Sunday.

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 all but three teams locked into the field, as I believe all of the bids are locked up except the ACC champion, Big 12 Champion, and Mountain West champion . 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	Oregon	has already clinched CFP bid
2	Georgia	has already clinched CFP bid
3	Boise State	clinches bid with win in MWC title game
4	Iowa State	clinches bid with win in Big 12 title game
5	Notre Dame	has already clinched CFP bid
6	Texas	has already clinched CFP bid
7	Penn State	has already clinched CFP bid
8	Tennessee	has already clinched CFP bid
9	Ohio State	has already clinched CFP bid
10	Indiana	has already clinched CFP bid
11	Alabama	has already clinched CFP bid
12	Clemson	clinches bid with win in ACC title game

First Four Out:

Ole Miss

South Carolina

SMU

Miami-FL

Projected Game Schedule:

First Round:

(5) Notre Dame vs. (12) Clemson- Friday December 20th, 8:00 PM (ABC/ESPN)

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

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

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

Quarterfinals:

Fiesta Bowl: (3) Boise State vs. (6) Texas/(11) Alabama 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) Oregon vs. (8) Tennessee/(9) Ohio State winner- Wednesday January 1st, 5:00 (ESPN)

Sugar Bowl: (4) Iowa State vs. (5) Notre Dame/(12) Clemson winner- Wednesday January 1st, 8:45 (ESPN)

Semifinals:

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

Cotton Bowl: Rose 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)