Who Will Win the National Title? How America Is Picking the College Football Playoff Champion

Brackets will not be locked until Oklahoma and Alabama face off in the first round of the College Football Playoff on Friday, December 19, but fans are already making their CFP picks. There is still time to vote in the NCAA.com College Football Bracket Challenge Game.

Indiana, the top overall seed and only undefeated team, is the most popular championship pick in NCAA.com’s College Football Bracket Challenge Game. The Hoosiers are the title pick in 28.79% of completed brackets.

However, the Hoosiers are not the top choice, as both No. 2 Ohio State (24.30%) and No. 3 Georgia (21.52%) are above the 20% mark. This means that the top three seeds will advance to the final round in over 75% of brackets.

Here’s the whole bracket, from No. 1 seed Indiana and No. 2 Ohio State to No. 11 Tulane and No. 12 James Madison.

Team	% picked to win the title
No. 1 Indiana	28.79
No. 2 Ohio State	24.30
No. 3 Georgia	21.52
No. 4 Texas Tech	7.40
No. 5 Oregon	4.62
No. 9 Alabama	3.66
No. 7 Texas A&M	2.90
No. 6 Ole Miss	1.79
No. 8 Oklahoma	1.62
No. 10 Miami (Fla.)	1.57
No. 12 James Madison	1.29
No. 11 Tulane	0.54

The top four seeds lead the group, with No. 4 Texas Tech trailing far behind. Aside from being the highest-ranked teams by the selection committee, being placed Nos. 1-4 also provides a bye. The Hoosiers, Buckeyes, Bulldogs, and Red Raiders only need to win three games to win the championship; everyone else must win four. However, Ohio State won the title as a 8th seed previous year.

Oregon is ranked sixth after four byes. Alabama, despite being the No. 9 seed, is the sixth-most popular CFP champion selection. Last year, all four home teams won the first round of the inaugural 12-team CFP bracket, but 3.66 percent of brackets have the Crimson Tide winning at Oklahoma in the first round and then three more games to add another national championship trophy to Alabama’s impressive haul — the Tide have the most appearances (9), wins (9) and titles (3) in CFP history.

Tulane and James Madison, the fourth and fifth-highest ranked conference champions in the American and Sun Belt, respectively the least-favored teams in the bracket.