After an offseason that felt just as chaotic as the regular season, college football is officially back, starting this weekend with Week 0 — with a more entertaining lineup than usual too.
And with the 2023 season about to kick off, we’ve got some predictions for how this season could shake out.
However, we here at For The Win don’t pretend to know the future — especially with the madness that is college football — but that’s not stopping us from looking ahead and making some super bold predictions. So before the first game of the season, here are six bold predictions for college football in 2023.
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- One of these 8 candidates will win the Heisman Trophy (and it’s not Caleb Williams)
1
A team NOT named Clemson or Florida State will win the ACC
Divisions in the ACC are gone, but that doesn’t mean the race for supremacy in this conference won’t be chaotic. Clemson and Florida State both have rosters stocked with guys who will be playing on Sunday, but for some reason, I just don’t believe in either of them. Are we sure Cade Klubnik is good? Are we sure a new offensive coordinator will solve Clemson’s problems? Maybe.
As for Florida State, are we really ready to declare that it’s back? Remember, this is a program that has a three-game losing streak to — *checks notes* — both Wake Forest AND N.C. State. If it’s Clemson or Florida State versus the field for the ACC crown, I’ll take the field. It includes a North Carolina team with a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate in Drake Maye, an unpredictable Pitt team with a stacked defense and a new quarterback, a resurgent Duke and a Louisville squad with an absolutely cake schedule. — Mitchell Northam
2
Jalon Daniels will be a Heisman Trophy finalist
Laugh at me again. I dare you. The last thing I need is another reason to pull out the receipts from last year’s bold predictions. So let’s skip past the part where you tell me I’m crazy. The Kansas quarterback opens at +10000 (bet $100 to win $10,000) to win the Heisman this year. Those are the same odds he held last year, and by Week 4 he was already down to +3000 with the sixth-best odds in all of college football. Daniels finished the season with 2,014 passing yards, 18 passing touchdowns (with another 425 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground) while tossing just four interceptions. Oh, and he missed four games due to a shoulder injury in the midst of that stretch.
The last time we saw him play, Daniels tallied a Kansas record 512 passing yards in the Liberty Bowl to lead a 25-point comeback and force triple overtime in an eventual 55-53 loss to Arkansas. The 20-year-old enters the 2023 season on watch lists for the Manning, Davey O’Brien and Walter Camp awards. And yet, he still holds worse odds to win the Heisman than Arch Manning, who will back-up Quinn Ewers at Texas this year. Jalon Daniels is an exceptional athlete, an elite quarterback and he’ll be on his way to New York in December to make everyone who laughed reading this look like even bigger fools. — Blake Schuster
3
The Pac-12 puts two teams in the College Football Playoff
This league is still searching for its first representative in the final four since Washington made it in 2016. With four preseason top-15 teams, I’m willing to bank on that streak ending this year. But I’ll also take it a step further — for the first time, the league will put two teams in the field. Defending champion Utah should be strong if it can weather early season quarterback injuries, Washington and Oregon look like complete teams, and while USC has questions on defense, it has the offense to keep up with anyone. I think two of those teams could easily reach the 11 or 12-win mark. — Tyler Nettuno
4
Big Ten fumbles an all-but-guaranteed College Football Playoff spot
The Big Ten has had eight different squads make the College Football Playoff, including at least one team in the final four for the last four seasons. Last season, there were two with Michigan and, controversially, Ohio State. This year, both the Wolverines and Buckeyes have strong shots to return to the playoff, and it feels guaranteed that one of them will make it. However, midseason conference chaos will leave the Big Ten on the outside looking in.
On paper, Michigan has a schedule it *should* cruise through, which means there’s likely a trap game or an overlooked team in there somewhere. With a more challenging lineup, Ohio State’s traps are a little more obvious with a tricky Purdue/Penn State/Wisconsin stretch bookended by road games. And Penn State will continue to be close but not quite there as a playoff contender. All this is to say, I can see the 2023 Big Ten champ having a loss or two, and that won’t sit well with the selection committee. — Michelle Martinelli
5
Georgia will not three-peat for the national title
The Georgia Bulldogs have entrenched themselves as one of the best college football teams of the past decade, and they’re positioned to still be one of the better programs in the nation this fall. However, every team suffers a regression, and losing so much talent this past offseason may catch up with Georgia in a big way. We’re guessing that the Bulldogs have a really good year but fall short of making the national title game for a third-straight year. — Cory Woodroof
6
The College Football Playoff will feature two first-timers
College football fans have made it clear they are tired of the same-old-same-old, and this might finally be the year that the playoff field features some new faces. Could Penn State finally break the Michigan/Ohio State chokehold on the Big Ten? Utah coming through in the final year of the Pac-12? What about Texas winning the Big 12 or Tennessee upsetting Georgia’s quest for a three-peat? None of these feel that farfetched and put together, I think at least two teams from this group of upstarts find a way in. — Matt Scalici
