CBS Sports Predicts Notre Dame To The National Title Game In 2026 CFP
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We're now 40 days away from Notre Dame kicking off their 2026 season against Wisconsin at Lambeau Field and we're only 33 days away from the week zero college football slate kicking off. Brad Crawford of CBS Sports released his CFP predictions for this season and there was a lot to take away. Here is how Crawford seeded the 12-team playoff:
1. Miami Hurricanes
2. Texas Longhorns
3. Oregon Ducks
4. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
5. Georgia Bulldogs
6. Indiana Hoosiers
7. Texas Tech Red Raiders
8. Ohio State Buckeyes
9. LSU Tigers
10. SMU Mustangs
11. Ole Miss Rebels
12. UNLV Rebels
Crawford has Miami winning the ACC, Texas winning the SEC, Oregon winning the Big Ten and Texas Tech winning the Big 12. Oddly enough, he still had Notre Dame receiving a bye in the playoffs despite having a loss to Miami. Crawford also had SMU in as an at-large bid which is Notre Dame's opponent in their final home game of the regular season.
Where things start to get interesting is how he sees the playoff shaking out. In round one Crawford went chalk. He has Ohio State over LSU, Georgia over UNLV, Indiana over Ole Miss and Texas Tech over SMU. In the quarterfinals, he also went chalk with Miami over Ohio State, Notre Dame over Georgia, Oregon over Indiana and Texas over Texas Tech.
The semi-finals, however, is where Crawford starts to shake things up. He has No. 4 seed Notre Dame beating No. 1 seed Miami in a rematch from the regular season. Crawford also has No. 3 Oregon over No. 2 Texas setting up a Notre Dame-Oregon national championship game in Las Vegas, a game that Crawford sees the Ducks winning.
"They have one of the best rosters in college football," Crawford explained. "They have an elite secondary, great offensive line and one of the highest paid quarterbacks. I think Dante Moore is going to be the first quarterback off the board in 2027. Dan Lanning, after a couple of mishaps against Indiana and Ohio State, gets it done, runs through the gauntlet and beats Notre Dame for Oregon's first national championship."
I would hesitate to use the word 'mishap' when describing a 41-21 loss in 2024 to Ohio State and a 56-22 loss to Indiana in 2025, but I do agree that Oregon has one of the best rosters in college football. I have major questions about their offensive line, but I do agree they have an elite secondary. Unfortunately, Crawford never elaborated what the Irish bring to the table in this potential matchup with Oregon.
At the end of the day, this is all speculation and playoff predictions like this show how truly wide open the 2026 college football season is. There's several teams between Notre Dame, Oregon, Texas, Ohio State, Miami, Indiana and Georgia would could compete for a championship this season. Only time will tell, but one thing is certain, college football needs to be back sooner rather than later.
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