While championship week left a little to be desired from Buckeye fans everywhere, they only dropped one spot in the playoff. Liveforthepage went 2-1 despite the letdown, as we look forward to the first round of the playoff.

Prediction 1: Most Americans wouldn’t live in Alabama if given the choice, but those who do live for their college football. #9 Alabama (-1.5) takes another trip to Norman playoff style to see #8 Oklahoma in a rematch of the regular season contest won narrowly by Oklahoma. They say a wounded dog hunts, three loss Alabama is wounded and I wouldn’t wanna be animal control this weekend. This goes double when considering that Oklahoma gave them a loss last year as well. Three wins against Alabama by anybody would be an anomaly, and with the spread this close, Alabama covers sooner than later.

Prediction 2: In what may be the best watch of the weekend, #10 Miami travels to meet #7 Texas A&M (-3) in Saturday’s noon game. The last two matchups between these two sides split evenly, and it should stay close, but I don’t think that’s the college football story here. The story is that in your second big year of the 12 team playoff, with all the money and media attention, playoff week one will be in the books by 3:30 Saturday afternoon. I say that because the remaining two games will be snooze-fests relegated to TNT/HBO Max that few will watch or care about. If this is the premium product of the college football year, how do the remaining two games have spreads of -17.5 and -21 respectively where you also limit the viewership to cable? Texas A&M covers, then you’ll need to cover the rest of the Saturday in ranch dressing watching something else.

Prediction 3: In that vein, #12 James Madison takes its freshly minted FBS program up to Eugene to face #5 Oregon (-21). Not only is this one of the toughest places in the country to play, but I don’t think Oregon will need to lean into crowd noise after the first 4 possessions when this is a 14-0 chase for a cover. Respect to James Madison for getting here, I don’t have any material about them yet, but give it one more playoff run and I’ll have jokes. Mostly I just hate this matchup for the fans and my entertainment prospects on Saturday, Oregon covers and it might get ugly.

Shout out to the alma mater for finishing strong and landing a spot in the Boca Raton Bowl, Toledo students need as much sun as they can get this time of year. I’ll be monitoring the score from my cubicle on Tuesday, and Louisville should be a fun matchup. However, the only reason to ever find oneself in Kentucky is for the subsidized cigarettes, and Rocket senior Tucker Gleason is gonna be smokin’ defensive backs all day. Hope you enjoy the games and the holiday everyone, always remember to abide.

Summary:

#9 Alabama covers -1.5

#7 Texas A&M covers -3

#5 Oregon covers -21

Record: 32-16-2