College Football 2017 Conference, Playoff and National Championship Predictions

The start of the 2017 college football season is just a day away with five games slated for Saturday, Aug. 26. The official Week 1 slate is packed with intriguing matchups, starting with games on Thursday, Aug. 31 and continuing to Monday, Sept. 4 with Georgia Tech and Tennessee meeting in Atlanta on Labor Day night. With the season set to kick off, it's time to make the final predictions and projections for the upcoming year.

 

Athlon’s editors met before the preseason magazine was released to iron out the predictions for the upcoming year, but there wasn’t a consensus on the staff on every conference title race, playoff predictions or top 25 rankings. From the ACC to the Sun Belt, there was plenty of disagreement from the staff on conference winners or the predicted order of finish.

 

In addition to their predicted standings for all 10 conferences, Athlon’s editors also project the four teams to make the playoff and a national champion.   

 

Official '17 Playoff Predictions

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National Superlatives

	Steven Lassan	Mitch Light	Braden Gall	Mark Ross
Heisman Winner	J.T. Barrett	Baker Mayfield	Saquon Barkley	J.T. Barrett
Coach of the Year	Jimbo Fisher	Tom Herman	Mike Gundy	Lincoln Riley
Coach on the Hot Seat	Kliff Kingsbury	Kliff Kingsbury	Jim Mora	Kevin Sumlin
Surprise Team	Notre Dame	NC State	Miami	Northwestern
Team that Will Disappoint	USC	Houston	Florida State	Tennessee
Breakout Player	Rashan Gary	Bryce Love	Rashan Gary	Brandon Wimbush
Top Freshman	Cam Akers	Cam Akers	Cam Akers	Josh Jackson
Top Transfer	Jarrett Stidham	Jarrett Stidham	Jarrett Stidham	Jarrett Stidham
Best Coordinator Hire	Kevin Wilson	Jim Leavitt	Kevin Wilson	Kevin Wilson
Comeback Player	Derwin James	Skai Moore	Derwin James	Skai Moore
Best Group of 5 Team	USF	USF	Boise State	USF

 

CFB 2017 Conference and Playoff Predictions

 

* Indicates predicted champion of conference.

 

ACC

	Steven Lassan	Mitch Light	Braden Gall	Mark Ross
Atlantic
1	*	*	*	*
2
3
4
5
6
7
Coastal
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

 

American Athletic Conference

	Steven Lassan	Mitch Light	Braden Gall	Mark  Ross
East
1	*	*	*	*
2
3
4
5
6
West
1
2
3
4
5
6

 

Big 12

	Steven Lassan	Mitch Light	Braden Gall	Mark Ross
1	*	*		*
2			*
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

 

Big Ten

	Steven Lassan	Mitch Light	Braden Gall	Mark Ross
East
1	*	*	*	*
2
3
4
5
6
7
West
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

 

Conference USA

	Steven Lassan	Mitch Light	Braden Gall	Mark Ross
East
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
West
1	*	*	*	*
2
3
4
5
6
7

 

MAC

	Steven Lassan	Mitch Light	Braden Gall	Mark Ross
East
1
2
3
4
5
6
West
1	*	*	*	*
2
3
4
5
6

 

Mountain West

	Steven Lassan	Mitch Light	Braden Gall	Mark Ross
Mountain
1	*	*	*	*
2
3
4
5
6
West
1
2
3
4
5
6

 

Pac-12

	Steven Lassan	Mitch Light	Braden Gall	Mark Ross
North
1	*	*	*	*
2
3
4
5
6
South
1
2
3
4
5
6

 

SEC

	Steven Lassan	Mitch Light	Braden Gall	Mark Ross
East
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
West
1	*	*	*	*
2
3
4
5
6
7

 

Sun Belt

	Steven Lassan	Mitch Light	Braden Gall	Mark Ross
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

 

Independents

	Steven Lassan	Mitch Light	Braden Gall	Mark Ross
1
2
3
4

 

Playoff Predictions

	Steven Lassan	Mitch Light	Braden Gall	Mark Ross
1
2
3
4

 

National Champion

	Steven Lassan	Mitch Light	Braden Gall	Mark Ross
	over	over	over	over