Can't Wait For Saturday Which team will shock the experts with a run to the CFP?

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Jun. 5—

I just received my invitation from The Associated Press to again be the Illinois representative for Top 25 football voting. I immediately accepted. It is one of my favorite parts of the job, though the college football fans who rank the voters don't always like my list. Thick skin is a must for a voter.

Right after Indiana won the most recent College Football Playoff in stunning fashion, I put my way-too-early 2026 Top 10 in The News-Gazette/IlliniHQ.

I'm sticking mostly with my early list, though I will have to reconsider Texas Tech's inclusion based on the resolution of the Brendan Sorsby case. With him, the Red Raiders are a Top 10 team. Without him, they probably are not.

But a Top 10 doesn't cover the entire CFP field. It is two short.

In 2025, nobody was expecting both James Madison and Tulane to make the cut. They were surprises. We knew there would be least one team outside the Power Four.

This year I've got my eye on a pair of Big Ten teams as possible sneaker-inners.

Three Big Ten teams seem like great bets to make the CFP: Indiana, Ohio State and Oregon. The defending national champion Hoosiers will open the season No. 1 on my AP ballot. In Cignetti I trust.

The fourth CFP team from the Big Ten will come from down a bit in the rankings, either Southern California or Washington.

They share two things in common beyond their Pac-12 past. They both welcome back talented, experienced quarterbacks, Jayden Maiawa with the Trojans and Demond Williams Jr, with the Huskies. And they are both led by hotshot coaches with something to prove, Southern Cal's Lincoln Riley and UW's Jedd Fisch. Wonder how many times I will write "Jeff" this season?

Their conference schedules aren't easy. The Trojans have to face Indiana, Ohio State and Oregon, though the Ducks and Buckeyes visit Los Angeles. And the noncon is soft with Notre Dame sadly off the schedule.

Washington has the Hoosiers at home and travels to Oregon, but no Ohio State.

If I'm right and these teams are both CFP contenders, their Oct. 3 meeting in Los Angeles could serve as a tiebreaker.

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