Tom Fornelli

College Football Playoff picture: James Madison's uphill battle to make field The Dukes don't join the list of five other CFP contenders we've officially declared dead, but they needed more help Saturday and a larger margin of victory.

There weren't a lot of picture-changing results this week, but Oregon feels like a safe bet after the USC win, and it wasn't a great day for James Madison.

That and more in the CFP Vibe Check.

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College Football Playoff predictions, scenarios based on bracket entering Week 13 Parsing through the CFP bracket entering Week 13 to determine who wins the 2025 national championship

What's the point of having a projected bracket that doesn't count if you aren't going to simulate that projected bracket for results that don't count?

There is none. So I gave that bracket meaning today.

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Big Ten storylines, picks: Ohio State even better than last year's title team? Plus, a pick for the huge showdown between Big Ten newcomers USC and Oregon

Is this year's Ohio State better than last year's Ohio State? I looked into that, and more, in B1G Time:

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College Football Power Ratings: Alabama holds steady despite loss to Oklahoma Plus, Texas A&M drops multiple spots after a rough first half necessitated an epic comeback

This week's power ratings are out, and the top four remains the same. Yes, one of those top four teams is Alabama.

Let me explain!

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College Football Playoff Vibe Check: Texas poised to be center of arguments The Longhorns are now in line to finish as the most popular three-loss team come season's end

Get ready to spend Thanksgiving arguing with your loved ones about Texas. Plus:

🏈 Georgia peaking
🏈 B1G had a good weekend
🏈 Beware of Pirates

And more in the CFP Vibe Check.

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Hearing people at work talk about how windy it is now, but how it wasn't when they got to work. They must not be Puntcast listeners, because they would know that the sun powers the wind. #PodcastOfScience @rkalland.bsky.social @tomfornelli.bsky.social @chippatterson.bsky.social

The Six Pack: Picks for Alabama-Oklahoma, Georgia-Texas and lock of Week 12 Trust The Process with these college football picks for the Week 12 slate

The Six Pack is looking to go 3-3 this week...again....with picks for

🏈 Oklahoma/Alabama
🏈 Texas/Georgia
🏈 Minnesota/Oregon
🏈 Wake Forest/North Carolina
🏈 Colorado St/New Mexico
🏈 Coastal/Georgia Southern

#TrustTheProcess

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College Football Playoff Vibe Check: Sorting out ACC mess as SEC keeps rolling The ACC Championship race is in flux with the second installment of the CFP rankings coming Tuesday

No, the ACC champion will not be left out of the College Football Playoff.

The CFP Vibe Check: www.cbssports.com/college-foot...

Wisconsin backing Luke Fickell for 2026, but its investment is too little and too late The problem here is that money cannot fix everything

Wisconsin is putting off til tomorrow what it could've done today.

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The Six Pack: Picks for BYU vs. Texas Tech, Auburn vs. Vanderbilt and Tom Fornelli's lock for Week 11 Trust The Process with these college football picks for the Week 11 slate

This week's Six Pack features picks for:

🏈 BYU/Texas Tech
🏈 Oregon/Iowa
🏈 Auburn/Vanderbilt
🏈 Washington/Wisconsin
🏈 Colorado/West Virginia
🏈 Sam Houston/Oregon State

#TrustTheProcess

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B1G Time: Is Iowa a real College football Playoff contender, or just a cornfield ghost? Plus, putting Jeremiah Smith's incredible career start in historical perspective

Two things that can be true: Iowa is good and Iowa has benefitted from an easier schedule to this point.

Are they both true? We'll find out this week when the Hawkeyes look to play spoiler at home against Oregon. That and more in B1G Time:

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I'll tell you what we do with Miami. We never believe in them again. We never buy into anything that they're doing. I don't care how talented they are, how well they're playing. We never believe that they're going to continue playing well, or that they're ever going to avoid doing dumb shit, and losing games they're not supposed to lose, as long as just the way that that team is. Like I texted you earlier, Chip, Miami could win 75 straight games, and for the rest of my life, I'll still be like, yeah, but they're probably going to blow this one.

Omg @tomfornelli.bsky.social talking about the Canes

College Football Power Ratings: SEC teams drop despite wins, Miami hangs around Plus, Oklahoma reappears after a major road win keeps its CFP hopes alive for another week

Not a lot of change in this week's power ratings, but one team finally fell outside the top 12 despite winning while a team that lost hung around.

It's all explained within.

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College Football Playoff rankings come Tuesday: How bad will the vibes be for every non-SEC team? The debut of the 2025 College Football Playoff rankings come Tuesday, and we're projecting some downtrodden vibes for most everybody not in the Southeast

The CFP Vibe Check: This week was more of a reality check for many in the ACC, Big Ten, and Mountain West.

Where do things stand before our first CFP rankings release?

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Julian Sayin steering Ohio State: Heisman leader continues impressive debut season It was easy to overlook Sayin amid a sea of supporting offensive talent, but the redshirt freshman has stolen the show

Wrote about the newest Heisman frontrunner at your local sportsbook.

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Six Pack of college football picks: USC vs. Nebraska, Texas vs. Vanderbilt and more Week 10 games Trust The Process with these college football picks for the Week 10 slate

The Six Pack is out with picks for:

🏈 Vandy/Texas
🏈 Cincinnati/Utah
🏈 Penn St/Ohio St
🏈 USC/Nebraska
🏈 Virginia/Cal
🏈 Wyoming/San Diego St

#TrustTheProcess

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For the first time this season two Big 12 teams have cracked the top 12 of my power ratings, and neither are the Big 12 teams still undefeated in conference play.

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B1G Time: Cracks starting to show in Oregon's facade? Plus, the inconsistent logic at the bottom of the AP Top 25 poll

The Oregon offense has slowed down considerably in its last 4 games. Is it a lull or a concern? Wrote about that, the youth movement at Maryland, and thoughts on how Washington and Iowa are being treated in the AP Poll in B1G Time.

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College Football Playoff Vibe Check, Week 9: Nine teams bow out of race Plus, Iowa and Cincinnati have officially thrown their names in the hat of potential playoff contenders after strong weeks

CFP Vibe Check

A&M is real, and it's spectacular
Get ready to speak CFP, Ole Miss
Iowa?
Cincinnati!
Memphis gave teams hope
My latest projection and more!

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Six Pack of college football picks: Key SEC showdowns step into Week 9 spotlight Trust the process with these picks, predictions and locks for Week 9 of the college football season

The Six Pack is out with picks for:

🏈 Oklahoma/Ole Miss
🏈 LSU/Texas A&M
🏈 Iowa State/BYU
🏈 Cincinnati/Baylor
🏈 Central Michigan/UMass
🏈 Northern Illinois/Ball State

#TrustTheProcess

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College Football Power Ratings: Texas lingers despite struggles as Alabama, Oregon climb The Longhorns have one of the worst offenses in the country, yet most of their goals remain attainable

Texas remains in the top 12 of my power ratings, and I don't like it, so I wrote about it. Read that, and about the 11 teams ahead of the Longhorns here:

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Not sure, honestly. I'd go after Will Stein. Could help keep Raiola from leaving, and even if it didn't, he's shown an ability to get the most out of multiple QBs.

There are over 65 games every weekend, and we can't discuss them all in two hours. It just happened last week that the Big 12's biggest games were going on during the show.

The Utah/ASU and BYU/Arizona games were going on as we were doing the show. We talked about Texas Tech crushing Kansas, but we didn't spend much time on it because it was a blowout. We didn't see Colorado/Iowa State live because it was going on during bigger games.

Yeah this is what happens when you write a column at 3am after working for 17 hours.

There are a lot of PSU donors/boosters who still long for the Paterno days. The great irony here is James Franklin dragged the program out of the past and now that they fired him they may immediately dive headfirst back into it.

I love Elko and think he could make a lot of sense. I also think he's at a school with plenty of resources of its own that's done a very good job adapting to the current landscape, and it's possible he could view Penn State as a lateral move.

B1G Time: Matt Rhule looks like the favorite for the Penn State job, but he might not be the best candidate Plus, why the conference could be on track for historic futility

I think Matt Rhule is the next head coach at Penn State. I also think there are two other candidates who would seriously consider the job and are better options. Wrote about that and plenty more in B1G Time.

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College Football Power Ratings: Big Ten occupies top three spots entering Week 8 Elsewhere, a couple of Texas teams not named the Longhorns have begun to emerge at midseason

Penn State firing James Franklin and my power ratings are reflections of a shift in college football that's happening far quicker than I anticipated.

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Which episode was this in particular?