Look, we have to be honest: The college football season is halfway finished, and we’ve already gotten a lot wrong. Then again, who hasn’t?
Twelve of The Athletic’s 28 staff members surveyed in August predicted Texas to win the national title. The Longhorns aren’t technically out of it at 4-2, but things haven’t gone according to plan. Next up? Five votes for Clemson, which is 3-3, and three votes each for LSU (still in it at 5-1, though hardly impressive) and Penn State (totally imploded and fired James Franklin).
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The remaining votes went to Ohio State (looking good?), Notre Dame (lost twice but not out of it) and Georgia (we’ll see?).
So let’s hit reset: 29 college football writers and editors at The Athletic were surveyed this week for our updated midseason predictions for the College Football Playoff, Heisman Trophy and conference championships — plus some more bold calls.
Who will win the national championship?
Here are our midseason picks compared to our preseason picks, plus Austin Mock’s current odds for each team to win the title in The Athletic’s projections model:
Our staff is rallying around undefeated No. 1 Ohio State for a second consecutive national championship, which isn’t surprising. It has the best odds in Mock’s projections, too, at 22 percent — 8 points higher than anyone else — and has made winning look so easy that Ryan Day now has a higher career winning percentage than Knute Rockne.
Last year, Texas was No. 1 and undefeated at midseason, and it was our top pick to go all the way with 50 percent of the vote. It went on to lose in the Playoff semifinals. Will things work out differently for the Buckeyes?
The consensus is usually wrong at midseason. Excluding the pandemic-altered 2020 season, just six of the past 20 AP No. 1 teams at midseason have gone on to win the national championship: 2022 Georgia, 2021 Georgia, 2017 Alabama, 2012 Alabama, 2009 Alabama and 2004 USC.
Last year’s national champion, Ohio State, was ranked fourth at midseason, and it was second with 36.7 percent of our midseason vote. The furthest a team has come from behind in the polls at midseason to win a national title in the past 20 years? In the first year of the Playoff in 2014, Ohio State vaulted from No. 13 in mid-October to the championship.
Our second choice is AP No.
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