20 games that will help decide the 2022 College Football Playoff

Two of the most legendary programs in college football history square off in a massive game right off the bat. Notre Dame begins a tough schedule by traveling down to Columbus to face a Buckeyes team that may be the most talented in the nation. CJ Stroud may be the preseason Heisman favorite and gets to go against a stingy Fighting Irish defense. The loser of this game has a chance to claw their way back into a playoff berth, but it puts a ton of pressure to be perfect the rest of the way. 

Last season, Wake Forest ended Clemson's reign over the ACC but couldn't actually beat Clemson. The Demon Deacons rolled into Death Valley with a 9-1 record but were soundly brushed aside by the Tigers, 48-27. This year's matchup will be in Winston-Salem, and the Deacs return most of their potent offense. QB Sam Hartman still has A.T. Terry to throw to and gets back Donavon Greene (who missed 2021 due to injury) and the same offensive line blocking for him. The defense will need work, which could make this game fun to watch. We could have a shootout depending on who's throwing passes for Clemson (DJ Uiagalelei or Cade Klubnik). The winner of this game likely makes their battle with NC State later in the season a de facto Atlantic Division title tilt. 

This could be a preview of the Big Ten championship game in December, so this early-season matchup holds a lot of weight. The Badgers have lost eight straight to the Buckeyes, but aside from their 2014 Big Ten championship game and the last time they met in the regular season (2019), the games have been really close. Ohio State will need to correct a defense that really let them down in 2021, especially against the latest great Badgers back, Braelon Allen. A win for Wisky puts a shot of energy into their playoff hopes.

Arkansas beat A&M in last year's showdown in Arlington. This game comes at an interesting time for both teams. It is smack dab during a tough first half of the season for Arkansas, where they face Cincinnati, A&M, Alabama, and travel to Mississippi State and BYU. The Aggies face Miami the week before this game and then travel to Mississippi State and Alabama right after. This game could swing the fortunes of both teams for the second half of 2022 and will likely determine who will be Alabama's biggest threat to a division crown.  

With all the talk around Oklahoma's changes and Texas' rebuild, people forget that Oklahoma State and Baylor were the two best teams in the Big 12 last year. They probably will be again this season. The Cowboys beat the Bears, 24-14, in their regular season battle, but Baylor got revenge in an epic Big 12 championship game. Baylor's win knocked Oklahoma State out of the College Football Playoff picture and has become the focus of Mike Gundy's bunch this season. Oklahoma State brings back dual-threat QB Spencer Sanders, though they'll need to retool a defense that was one of the best in the country (yes, I said that about a Big 12 school). Baylor enters the season as the Big 12 favorites but must replace a lot of skill players. Both lines will be the strength of their team this season. Look for another (or two more) great, physical game between these two.  

Clemson's near-decade-long dominance over the ACC's Atlantic Division ended last season when Wake Forest stunned everyone by winning it. This year, it seems as if NC State is the biggest threat to Clemson reclaiming their throne (though don't overlook Wake repeating, either). NC State has something that Clemson doesn't have: clarity at quarterback and continuity. Devin Leary may be the best QB in the ACC and could give a consistently solid Clemson defense some fits in Death Valley. Dabo Swinney needs to find a solution at quarterback while he's adjusting to life without his two trusted coordinators, who each took head coaching jobs. The Textile Bowl got a lot more interesting. 

This may be the game most college football fans have circled on their calendars. Obviously, the beef between Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher reached an all-time high over the summer as allegations were lobbed back and forth. Secondly, A&M popped Alabama in College Station last season. Third, both these teams are very, very good and highly talented. This showdown will be filled with guys who will be playing on Sunday very soon. The SEC West will be on the line in this one, and the loser may find themselves shut out of playing for the conference title. Texas A&M found that out in 2020. 

The Red River Rivalry is always fun to watch, but this year may have a bit more sizzle. Oklahoma isn't considered the runaway favorite in the Big 12, while Texas has been building towards being a contender in the conference race. Both head coaches (OU's Brent Venables and UT's Steve Sarkisian) are trying to put their stamp on their respective programs against their biggest rivals, and this year's edition is up in the air. Don't forget we have two new quarterbacks to the rivalry (Quinn Ewers and Dillon Gabriel). The winner could be on their way toward a conference title run. 

How often the Buckeyes are on this list shows just how good we expect them to be and how difficult their schedule is. Last year's game was an absolute blowout, with the Buckeyes winning 56-7, which put a bad taste in the mouth of Spartans fans despite an otherwise great season. Ohio State has outscored the Spartans 108-19 over the last two seasons and an unreal 216-38 over the last five years. Mel Tucker is turning things around in East Lansing, and despite recent history, this is a dangerous game for the Buckeyes. 

This game could go a long way in determining the Pac-12 championship. This will be Lincoln Riley's biggest test in his first season as head coach at USC and will be a great gauge of the Trojans' ceiling. Defending conference champion Utah is one of the favorites once again, with a good look at being a playoff team. Depending on their performance against Florida in their opener, this could be a huge game in the Utes' postseason chances.  

Billy Napier's first "Cocktail Party" could be a huge coming-out event. Georgia is the defending champions who, despite losing a lot of talent to the NFL, will be back in the national title hunt. They're the favorites to win the SEC East, at least, but Napier's Gators could spoil the party. Always a fun atmosphere, it will be cool to see if what Napier is selling takes hold as this game — the biggest on their schedule — rolls up. 

These two coaches got paid after successful 2021 seasons. Jim Harbaugh won Michigan's first Big Ten title since 2014 and earned the Wolverines their first-ever College Football Playoff berth. Meanwhile, Mel Tucker took the Spartans to a 12-2 mark (beating Michigan along the way) and a win over Pittsburgh in the Peach Bowl. The question is, what will they do for an encore? Michigan lost a lot of its defensive firepower but kept its deep core of backs. Michigan State lost running back Kenneth Walker III and his 1,636 yards but kept its identity as a smash-mouth unit on both sides of the ball. This should be a great game to determine who will take on Ohio State for Big Ten East supremacy. 

In 2020, Clemson and Notre Dame played two games that had a huge impact on the College Football Playoff. The Tigers and Irish each fell back a bit last season but looking to turn the corner and get back in the playoff mix. If Clemson takes care of things before this game (most notably taking care of NC State on Oct. 1), a win in South Bend could place the Tigers in the driver's seat for one of the four playoff berths. Notre Dame could have wins over Ohio State and Clemson by the end of the night and have a firm grasp on a playoff spot. Even if you forget the playoff implications, this should be a good old-fashioned great game between two of the better defensive units in the country. 

Blake Shapen showed he can be the guy for Baylor when he completed his first 17 passes in the Big 12 championship win over Oklahoma State. That will go a long way for the Bears to repeat as conference champions and win this game in Norman. Oklahoma's defense should be much better under new head coach Brent Venables, making this game a possible old-fashioned defensive battle. This is also a chance for the Bears to take the Big 12 away from the Sooners, who will leave for the SEC shortly. The Big 12 may not have any dominant teams, but it is a very deep league this year and whoever wins the league has a shot at one of the four playoff spots. 

Granted, Alabama has won 10 of the last 11 games against LSU, but now Brian Kelly is in Baton Rouge. Saban has beaten Kelly in both their previous matchups — once in a BCS championship game and once in a College Football Playoff showdown — and this is their first regular-season meeting. Look, Bama is the much better team right now, and Kelly can look to Saban as an example of a coach who mainly worked in the Midwest, coming down to Louisiana and building a contender. This is a trap game of sorts for the Crimson Tide, and Kelly would love nothing better than to get a signature win for his program.

Alabama has won 16 of the last 18 against the Rebels (including six in a row), but the games have been so much more fun now that Lane Kiffin is running things in Oxford. The last time these two met in Oxford was an absolute shootout, with the Crimson Tide winning, 63-48. Matt Corral is now in the NFL, so Kiffin needs USC transfer Jason Dart to develop in an always brutal SEC West. Alabama always plays a whale of a schedule, and this could be that late-season surprise to derail Nick Saban's title hopes. 

Last year, Utah spanked Oregon twice over a three-week period that ended any hope of a possible playoff run. The Utes mauled the Ducks in Salt Lake City, 38-7, and then bounced Oregon 38-10 in the Pac-12 title game in Las Vegas. The two teams look to be the best in a Pac-12 that will no longer use the divisional format. Like last season, this game will be the two schools' penultimate game before a possible rematch for the title. Unlike last year, this game will be played in Eugene and under a coach who prides himself on defense (Dan Lanning was the defensive coordinator of the Georgia Bulldogs' historic defense last year) and likely won't let Utah's Tavion Thomas walk all over them again. 

We may be winding down on the Bedlam series, as Oklahoma is inching toward its move to the SEC, with the future of the series in doubt. The Sooners have won 16 of the last 19 games in this series, but Oklahoma State won last year's tight bout (37-33). This will be Brent Venables's first Bedlam as head coach, but he saw plenty as an assistant at Oklahoma from 1999 to 2011. The typically bad blood between the two programs worsened once the Sooners announced they were leaving for the SEC, so this should be quite a scene in Norman. 

A great late-season battle between two teams who could face off for the ACC championship two weeks later. Both are the favorites to win their divisions and meet in Charlotte for the league crown, something that the powers that be in the league would love to see. Remember that Miami's new AD left Clemson for the gig and made a huge splash by luring Mario Cristobal away from Oregon and making promises of investing in the program. Clemson's Dabo Swinney is the poster coach for the old-school ways of doing things. A culture class in Clemson for a huge game. 

I mean, Michigan-Ohio State is always a big game to watch anyway, but there could be a lot on the line in 2022. While the Buckeyes are the favorite to win the Big Ten this season, Michigan is the defending champ and was in the College Football Playoff a year ago. They got there partly by running all over Ohio State in the rivalry tilt last November, something Ryan Day and the Buckeyes hope they've shored up this year.