CBS Sports Reveals Post-Spring College Football Bowl, CFP Projections

by Staff Reporter

May 8, 20269 Comments

Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports

Now that spring football has wrapped up, Brad Crawford of CBS Sports unveiled some early College Football Bowl predictions and CFP projections.

For LSU, he has the Tigers making the 12-team college football playoff, facing Ohio State in their first-round matchup in Columbus.

The winner would go on to play No. 1 Miami in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta.

Top 12 Seeding:
1. Miami
2. Texas
3. Oregon
4. Notre Dame
5. Georgia
6. Indiana
7. Texas Tech
8. Ohio State
9. LSU
10. SMU
11. Ole Miss
12. UNLV

College Football Playoff matchups:

First Round:

(9) LSU at (8) Ohio State
Ohio Stadium - Columbus, Ohio
Dec. 18, 2026

(10) SMU at (7) Texas Tech
Jones AT&T Stadium - Lubbock, Texas
Dec. 19, 2026

(11) Ole Miss at (6) Indiana
Memorial Stadium - Bloomington, Ind.
Dec. 19, 2026

(12) UNLV at (5) Georgia
Sanford Stadium - Athens, Ga.
Dec. 19, 2026

Quarterfinals:

(1) Miami vs. (8/9) Winner
Peach Bowl - Atlanta, Ga.
Jan. 1, 2027

(4) Notre Dame vs. (5/12) Winner
Fiesta Bowl - Glendale, Ariz.
Dec. 30, 2026

(2) Texas vs. (7/10) Winner
Cotton Bowl - Dallas, Texas
Jan. 1, 2027

(3) Oregon vs. (6/11) Winner
Rose Bowl - Pasadena, Calif.
Jan. 1, 2027

Filed Under: LSU Football

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9 Comments

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CR4090•3 days

Miami will not be #1.

LAhinguarst•3 days

Tech doesn't have a QB.

MFTPC•2 days

Wanna bet?

porge7106•3 days

No gumps?? WOW CANT BELIEVE IT!! Geaux tigers

TouchdownTony•7 hours

They are basing this off NIL payrolls. 15 million Bama against 40-60 mill payrolls will do that. Why else do you think SMU and Texas Tech are in there. Think you’d have seen them before NIL. As far as LSU they giving them the benefit of the doubt despite being lucky to not have a losing season last year. They have a new coach who hasn’t won a thing with a QB who has never taken an SEC snap that didn’t participate in spring and MIGHT be ready by fall. What you see here is the 40 million dollar club with maybe the exception of UGA. These rankings are based on money spent period end of story.

msap9020•3 days

Meaningless

Schmelly•3 days

UNLV???? What in the Jerry Tarkanian is going on here?

HughsWorkPhone•3 days

That subjective 8th vs 9th seed seems pretty damn huge.

p0845330•4 hours

According to this, the final four could all be SEC.

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