Josh Pate updates bracket, predictions for College Football Playoff after Week 12

This weekend saw seven more losses, including two by teams in the Top-10, within the CFP Top-25. That has now led to another update to the predicted field of the College Football Playoff by Josh Pate.

Pate posted the latest edition of his bracket to end the episode of ‘Josh Pate’s College Football Show’ on Sunday. It’s an exercise that he’ll be completing each week, with two weekends left in the regular season before the conference championships, until the playoff is officially set come December 7th.

“It’s so fluid right now that, just this past weekend’s results? It could have been a lot worse – like, A&M could have lost, so they didn’t. But, there’s a lot that’s changing here,” said Pate.

Here was that updated projection for the CFP by Pate coming out of the results of Week 12:

College Football Playoff First Round Game #1

No. 12 Tulane at No. 5 Texas Tech

With a 48-9 blowout of UCF on Saturday, Texas Tech remained the expected winner of the Big 12 Championship for Pate. That has the Red Raiders as the No. 5 seed in his playoff, with him believing that a win in Arlington would set them ahead of some of the at-larges, namely those out of the SEC, in the seeding for the CFP.

Then, because of a 41-38 loss for USF on the road yesterday at Navy, Tulane is now projected here as the highest-ranked champion out of the Group of Five, with the Green Wave expected to win the American Championship by Pate. That’d then result in a first-round loss for them in Lubbock.

College Football Playoff First Round Game #2

No. 11 Georgia Tech at No. 6 Georgia

Pate continues to question who is going to make, let alone win, the ACC Championship, noting that “this changes every week”. So, he, with Virginia winning 34-17 over Duke on Saturday, sent the Cavaliers to Charlotte now, where they’d lose to his projected champion still in Georgia Tech, who’s coming off a road comeback in winning at 36-34 at Boston College.

That would, as a result, send the Yellow Jackets to play a second game in three outings for them and likely the second-straight game for the Bulldogs against one another. Regardless of who wins the first one in the regular season finale in Atlanta, though, Pate has Georgia, after winning by 25 over a former playoff team here in Texas, moving on to the quarterfinals of the playoff with a win there over GT in Athens.

College Football Playoff First Round Game #3

No. 10 Notre Dame at No. 7 Ole Miss

Notre Dame just found itself on the wrong end of seeding this week by Pate. The Fighting Irish went and won on the road at 37-15 over No. 22 Pittsburgh, but fell down a spot as a result of what happened elsewhere in the Southeastern Conference.

That said, Pate made up for it by sending Notre Dame to Oxford and getting a first-round win over Ole Miss. That’s as the Rebels, who are up a seed line after a 34-24 win over Florida yesterday in The ‘Sip, are sitting about as well as they can to not just be in the playoff but to host a game at Vaught-Hemingway.

College Football Playoff First Round Game #4

No. 9 Oklahoma at No. 8 Oregon

Oregon went down a seed line here despite a 42-13 win over Minnesota on Friday night. However, Pate does have the Ducks “winning out right now” to be in the CFP, with games left against USC and Washington.

Oklahoma, in what he admitted was “really, really, really muddy” as far as seeding considering they jumped Notre Dame, then moved into the College Football Playoff for Pate tonight, thinking they could get to as high as even an eight seed to host a playoff game, coming off the 23-21 win for the Sooners on the road yesterday in Tuscaloosa. He would project Oregon to beat them in that eight-nine game in Eugene, but, nevertheless, OU is at least in the field now coming off that massive win at ‘Bama.

College Football Playoff Quarterfinal #1

No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 8 Oregon

Ohio State remained the predicted winner of the Big Ten Championship and, therefore, the No. 1 overall seed in the CFP for Pate. That’s as the Buckeyes blasted the Bruins in another blowout for them this season at 48-10 over UCLA last night in Columbus.

As a result, Oregon would ironically be the team that Ohio State is waiting on in these quarterfinals, which Pate noted is the last reminder that “you are getting the shaft if you’re the number one seed” based on “the caliber of matchup you’re going to get”. But, the Buckeyes win again over the Ducks, as they did last season, to move on to the semifinals of the CFP.

College Football Playoff Quarterfinal #2

No. 2 Indiana vs. No. 10 Notre Dame

Indiana also remained the runner-up here out of the Big Ten, with the Hoosiers remaining undefeated after a slow start on Saturday to win at 31-7 over Wisconsin. However, for another week, Pate has IU being eliminated in an upset, with this one being even bigger than last week’s as he had Notre Dame knocking them off in another rematch from a playoff game we saw a postseason ago.

“Give me Notre Dame over Indiana, which is going to be controversial,” said Pate. “That’s a replay, or a rematch rather, of last year’s game that was in South Bend.

College Football Playoff Quarterfinal #3

No. 3 Alabama vs. No. 6 Georgia

Despite what happened yesterday against Oklahoma, Pate is still sticking with Alabama, whether in the SEC Championship or in the College Football Playoff. That’s full knowing, though, that the two-point loss to the Sooners, being their first defeat in conference, means they are no longer just assured to go to Atlanta.

That would set up another classic matchup between Alabama and Georgia. And, after having them winning over them in the semifinals last week, Pate still had ‘Bama winning in this predicted quarterfinal matchup this week, which would again just be the latest victory for the Crimson Tide over the Bulldogs.

College Football Playoff Quarterfinal #4

No. 4 Texas A&M vs. No. 5 Texas Tech

Texas A&M was on the brink of its first loss of the season, but managed to come back in historical, unprecedented fashion from down as much as 27 to avoid the upset and win at 31-30 over South Carolina. That kept the Aggies projected here to be in the SEC Championship and, even with a loss, a seed that’ll allow them a bye for the College Football Playoff.

And, for the second consecutive week, Pate had it bracketed where we’d get an in-state matchup between the Aggies and Red Raiders. He, yet again, then had a win for A&M to send them into the semis of the CFP.

College Football Playoff Semifinal #1

No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 4 Texas A&M

In the first of the two semifinals, we would get the predicted winner of the Big Ten Championship versus the predicted runner-up of the SEC Championship. That would mean the Buckeyes against the Aggies, who currently are still two of the three remaining unbeaten teams in the FBS.

Pate has been wondering for a while if a loss has been coming, and it almost did yesterday, the way of A&M. Because of that, Ohio State simply moved back into his title game in his playoff projection this week.

College Football Playoff Semifinal #2

No. 3 Alabama vs. No. 10 Notre Dame

Again, Alabama remains the pick of Pate. That includes here in this predicted matchup with Notre Dame, who he has not just in the playoff at this point but, for the second straight postseason, making it to the semis of the CFP.

The Crimson Tide and the Fighting Irish would make for a game with quite the rating on it, with them being two of the sport’s biggest brands. But, still, Pate kept his championship game the same this week in advancing ‘Bama.

College Football Playoff National Championship

No. 3 Alabama over No. 1 Ohio State

Again, at this point, Alabama continues to be the pick out of principle, who was his preseason prediction to win it all in the playoff, for Pate. He’s well aware of what Ohio State is, but, until he has reason to change it, the Tide will continue to be his choice to win the CFP.

“I’m keeping my national championship game the same right now, so give me Ohio State versus Alabama. I’ll still keep my national championship the same right now. I’ll take Alabama to win it,” stated Pate. “If Ohio State and Alabama are on the field right now, I feel a lot better about Ohio State. I don’t want to be the guy who comes off a championship prediction, only for the championship prediction to verify because that’s the worst spot to be in. Socially, I would never live it down. I need Alabama to work on themselves.”