Skip to main content

Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia Left Out of Desmond Howard’s Playoff Prediction

It’s Week Zero in college football, which means College Gameday premiered on ESPN for its inaugural show of the new season.

At the end of the program on Saturday, the Gameday crew made their annual College Football Playoff predictions. As expected, there were several that included Alabama, Ohio State and Georgia, the three favorites to win the 2022 National Championship.

But those picks were not held by analyst Desmond Howard, who released a wild final four.

Howard included Texas A&M (his SEC winner), Pittsburgh (his ACC winner), Baylor (his Big 12 winner) and Michigan (his Big 10 winner) in his College Football Playoff.

That means no Alabama, no Georgia and no Ohio State from Howard. Sure, Howard leaving out Ohio State can’t be too surprising as a Michigan alum. But leaving out Alabama and Georgia too? Blasphemous.

Howard ultimately picked Texas A&M to beat Michigan in the national championship.

The new blood in the playoff would be great for the sport, as many critics have pointed to the fact that the same three to four teams are always the ones to be in the mix to win the national championship.

Despite this bold claim by Howard, it’s highly unlikely that the College Football Playoff won’t include at least one of Ohio State, Alabama and Georgia at season’s end.

More CFB Coverage:

Daily Cover: Tennis’s Most Exciting Player Is Also Its Most Difficult