The college football season is just under halfway through another memorable year of upsets and chaos with more to come in the race to the college football playoffs.  With that being said, it’s time to look at the likely playoff contenders and who will run away with the Heisman trophy.

The playoff race is looking to be one for the ages this season compared to years’ past. In just the top ten of the AP rankings, there are four SEC schools and three Big Ten schools. The SEC schools in order of ranking are Alabama, LSU, Florida and Georgia.  These four powerhouses make for an exciting finish to the season, seeing that all four teams will play each other before the SEC Championship. In the Big Ten, Ohio State, Wisconsin and Penn State will all have a chance to play for the Big Ten Championship with a likely matchup between No. 4 Ohio State and No. 6 Wisconsin.

So, who will be in the playoffs? It seems that Clemson is a lock as the highest competition they have left to face is Wake Forest. Assuming the Tigers stay undefeated, they should remain the first seed.

Facing off with Dabo Swinney’s Tigers at the fourth seed will likely be the Wisconsin Badgers. The Badgers will have to take down the Iowa Hawkeyes and Ohio State, possibly twice, to get there, but their run game led by Heisman candidate Jonathan Taylor mixed with their stellar defense will cause havoc for the rest of the season.

Coming in at the second seed appears to be Joe Burrow and the LSU Tigers, causing Alabama to miss their first bout in the playoffs. Ed Orgeron and the Tigers face a ton of competition in the final stretch of the season, but their passing game will push them into a playoff spot. 

Facing off against LSU will be the Oklahoma Sooners. The Sooners led by former Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts need to get past the Texas Longhorns before they should have smooth sailing to a seed in the playoffs.

No. 1 Clemson vs. No. 4 Wisconsin

In a matchup between the defending national champion Clemson Tigers and the Wisconsin Badgers, Trevor Lawrence and company will falter at the hands of the Badgers after a weak schedule and losses on the defensive line. The Tigers’ defense being inexperienced presents a great opportunity for the Badgers to run all over the Clemson defense.

No. 2 LSU vs. No. 4 Oklahoma

In the Sooners-Tigers matchup, it seems as if Oklahoma will get the best of the Tigers. LSU will more than likely keep a close one-score game, but ultimately the Sooners have more experience with Hurts at the helm, who will be looking to hurt the Tigers’ defense.  The Sooners will move on to face off with the Badgers.

National Championship: Oklahoma vs. Wisconsin

In the National Championship held in New Orleans this year, expect the Sooners’ defense to have a gameplan to stop the Badgers’ rushing attack led by Taylor.  Unless Wisconsin can get their passing game going, it seems that the Sooners are the favorites to win the title this season.

In the Heisman race, we know the two front runners are Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa. However, a big underdog is Taylor out of Wisconsin. Tagovailoa will face tough competition as Alabama still has to square off against three top 25 teams. Hurts doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon as he faces a relatively easy schedule at the end of Oklahoma’s season.

Nonetheless, if anyone will end the streak of Heisman quarterbacks, it will be Taylor. Taylor has put up high caliber numbers, rushing for 745 yards and 12 touchdowns through six games. Look for Taylor to be an upset in the Heisman race.