Time for a do-over! Nicole Auerbach's midseason College Football Playoff predictions and awards

Like many of her peers, Nicole's preseason predictions did not age well. So, here's her second chance at the crystal ball.

We should really burn all the preseason polls and predictions from the 2025 college football season. As I look back to my preseason College Football Playoff projected bracket, I can only shudder. I predicted that Clemson would beat Penn State in the national championship game. Those teams have combined for six losses and one head coaching change through the first half of the season. Whoops!

Thankfully, my bosses are giving me a do-over. They're letting me make a midseason CFP projection based on seven weeks of on-field results. Back in August, I thought Indiana would have a decent year and not drop off too much from its historic 11-win season a year ago, but I didn't pencil the Hoosiers into my CFP. Now I know they are one of the best teams in the country and — knock on wood — pretty close to a CFP lock at this point, considering their remaining schedule includes zero ranked opponents.

Without further ado, my revised postseason predictions ...

My Power 4 champions:

  • Big Ten: Ohio State
  • SEC: Texas A&M
  • Big 12: Texas Tech
  • ACC: Miami

My highest-ranked Group of 6 champion: South Florida

My at-large selections, in order of ranking:

  • Indiana
  • Oregon
  • Alabama
  • Ole Miss
  • Notre Dame
  • Georgia Tech
  • Nebraska

I've got the Fighting Irish into the field after running the table after the two tough losses to start the season. It helps, of course, that those two losses came to teams I have ranked in the top five. Georgia Tech gets in as the second ACC team after losing to Miami in the ACC championship game, and Nebraska sneaks in with a favorable path (and its newfound ability to win close games).

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This is the first year of straight seeding, which means that the top four seeds do not all have to be different conference champions. Even though I've included three SEC teams in my final bracket, I do believe that the top half of the SEC is going to cannibalize itself a bit over the second half of the season. There are a lot of good-to-very-good teams in the SEC this year, but it doesn't look like the conference has an elite team like it has with Nick Saban's best Alabama teams or Kirby Smart's back-to-back national champion Georgia squads. All of the top teams have pretty significant flaws, and if the top SEC contenders have multiple losses, it's definitely possible that the SEC champion is not ranked in the top four. Ohio State, Miami, Indiana and Texas Tech all have the clearest paths to top-four spots.

I really like this Texas A&M team and believe Mike Elko will be the coach that leads the Aggies to break through that 8-4-ish ceiling. The defense is great, and the offense has the ability to be explosive. I think it'll be good enough to win the SEC, but Marcel Reed and co. would struggle to get through multiple rounds of the CFP after a long SEC season. (Reed's health is a season-long concern with the way he plays). I also like Alabama team and have said repeatedly that it's a very different team than the one we saw lose to Florida State in Week 1. I don't penalize the Crimson Tide a ton for that loss, but my concerns with the offensive line and a sometimes suddenly stagnant offense limit how far I'm willing to pick the Tide. I have them losing to Miami in the quarterfinals. Right now, I've got all three SEC teams failing to reach the semifinals — largely due to matchups — which would lead to new levels of angst in the southeast. There has already been a great deal of discomfort with the Big Ten winning the last two national titles; if the SEC doesn't make the title game, let alone the semifinal round ... I can't even imagine what this upcoming offseason will be like.

The teams I trusted most are ones that appear to have dominant line play. Miami, of course. Indiana. Texas Tech, too, although it's difficult to tell exactly how good the Red Raiders are when their Big 12 opponents are so overmatched. And I just love Ohio State's suffocating defense. Matt Patricia and his pencil are doing a fantastic job confusing opposing quarterbacks, and that red zone defense is again the envy of college football. I've got the Buckeyes going back-to-back after losing 14 NFL Draft picks off the 2024-25 national championship roster.

My midseason Heisman Trophy winner: Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson. Georgia coach Kirby Smart said it a few weeks ago, but he's been the hottest quarterback in the country. This is what a Kalen DeBoer-Ryan Grubb offense is supposed to look like. It looks effortless and easy for Simpson, which is such a credit to his poise and processing ability.

My midseason Coach of the Year: Indiana coach Curt Cignetti. What he has done with the losingest program in college football history is nothing short of remarkable. This is the best coaching job in recent memory.

Category: General Sports