Brad Crawford predicts Texas to reach CFP semifinal in 2024
Is it too early to predict the 2024 season? We don’t think so. One college football analyst doesn’t think so either.
247Sports college football analyst Brad Crawford sent out his way-too-early college football semifinal predictions for the 2024 season. Texas made the cut.
In his scenario, the Longhorns reach the final four as the SEC’s second-highest finisher. Understandably, Georgia is the team Crawford has winning the SEC. In all likelihood it is probably how the two teams should tier in the conference after Alabama lost legendary head coach Nick Saban.
Texas looks like a semifinal contender again in 2024. Albeit, it will have to win a game or two to reach the final four of college football’s top sport.
Let’s take a look at how Crawford sees the playoff unfolding.
Quarterfinal: No. 5 Texas over No. 4 Kansas State
Could you draw up a bigger matchup for the Big 12 conference than this? The conference’s champion Kansas State faces off here against the team that left the Big 12 for greener pastures. Texas will once again have the talent advantage in this iteration of the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl. The battle tested Longhorns led by starting quarterback Quinn Ewers defeat Kansas State quarterback Avery Johnson and the Wildcats to go the Cotton Bowl semifinal.
Quarterfinal: No. 1 Ohio State vs No. 8 Michigan
The trouble with this matchup is whether or not Michigan will have a playoff worthy head coach. Jim Harbaugh appears set on heading to coach an NFL franchise, while his starting quarterback and several linemen are set to head to the league. Ohio State has plenty of questions of its own. Among them are whether or not quarterback Will Howard can lead a championship contender. Despite all of that, can you imagine seeing one of college football’s top rivalries played in the postseason? Crawford sees Ohio State moving to the next round to face Texas in the Cotton Bowl.
Quarterfinal: No. 2 Georgia vs No. 10 LSU
This prediction has Georgia facing LSU in Atlanta only this game won’t be for an SEC championship. The Bulldogs will have the homefield advantage in the game, but its their superior roster that should be of more concern to the Tigers. Georgia heads to the Orange Bowl for a spot in the national championship.
Quarterfinal: No. 3 Florida State vs No. 6 Oregon
Florida State should be strong in 2024 with transfer quarterback DJ Uiagelelei as its starter. Oregon has a new likely starter at quarterback of its own from the portal in Oklahoma transfer Dillon Gabriel. I would favor Oregon in this matchup, but Crawford advances Florida State to the Orange Bowl to face Georgia.
Semifinal: No. 2 Georgia vs. No. 3 Florida State
In this prediction, we get Florida State and Georgia in the Orange Bowl again. The unusual circumstances that led to a 63-3 drubbing of Florida State won’t be involved this time, but we should probably see a similar result to scale should there be a rematch.
Semifinal: No. 1 Ohio State vs No. 5 Texas
It is doubtful that Ohio State will secure the No. 1 seed given everything they lose. If we were to get this game in the semifinal, I would take Texas in this matchup. The Longhorns will have a three-year starter in the same system at quarterback in Quinn Ewers. Given how much he improved from 2022 to the past season, Ewers could be the top quarterback in the country by this point in the year. This final four would make a rematch of the presumed SEC championship possible between Georgia and Texas.
