Oklahoma begins season with 8th-best odds of making the Playoff, says ESPN Playoff Predictor

In the final countdown to the 2024 college football season, much of the talk and recent media coverage has been about who will be in and who will be out when the bracket is filled out for the new 12-team College Football Playoff.

With the new 12-team playoff format, as many as three or four teams from one conference could potentially make the tournament field. As Week Zero of the 2024 college season gets set to kick off this weekend, The ESPN Playoff Predictor gives 24 teams at least a 16 percent chance of making the playoff this season.

Georgia (79 percent), Oregon (76 percent), Texas (68 percent) and Ohio State (67 percent) are the teams the ESPN computer gives the best chance of making the 2024 playoff at this stage of the season before a single game has been played. Notre Dame and Penn State are at the next tier of playoff contenders, both at 59 percent, and Alabama is close behind at 57 percent.

Oklahoma, Tennessee and Missouri are tied with the eighth-best chance at this point, a 36 percent chance, and Florida State is next in line at 37 percent and the only other team to have odds of 30 percent chance or better of making the playoff.

Of the 24 teams cited by the ESPN Playoff Predictor, 21 are from the Power Conferences, two from the Group of Five and Notre Dame. Nine SEC teams are represented, five from the ACC, four from the Big Ten and three from the Big 12.