Let's face it. Alabama has been as consistently dominant as any team in the history of college football over the past decade. When -- not if -- the Associated Press Top 25 declares it the preseason No. 1 team on Aug. 21, it will mark the ninth consecutive year that the Crimson Tide have been at the top of the AP Top 25 at the start the season, end of the regular season or end of the postseason. No team can match that. You would be hard pressed to find a team that was ranked No. 1 at any point of nine consecutive seasons. Alabama has won three national championships in the previous eight years, although none of those came in a season in which it was the preseason No. 1.

In that sense, the Tide are due. I am picking them to at least finish the regular season where they start, not because of any sense of being "due" but rather for a much more simple reason: They have the best talent and the best coach. While that does not guarantee a championship, it makes it harder to pick against them.

That said, the margin between the Crimson Tide and the rest of the field is not so large that they cannot be had. I am picking another familiar face at No. 2. Ohio State is the favorite in the Big Ten, but again this season, the Buckeyes will be challenged. Penn State returns a lot of talent, especially on offense, and the Nittany Lions are the defending league champion. The Buckeyes also face Oklahoma in nonconference play.

Southern California is slotted at No. 3 in the preseason College Football Playoff projection. The Trojans were largely considered the best team in college football last season after their 1-3 start. You try to take up that argument with Clemson fans, though. Quarterback Sam Darnold is a leading candidate for the Heisman Trophy.

Coming in at No. 4 is preseason ACC favorite Florida State. The Seminoles can make an early statement when they face Alabama in the opening week of the season in Atlanta, where the CFP title game will be played. FSU has most of its defense returning from last season, most notably All-American safety Derwin James, who had last season cut short by a knee injury. Deondre Francois is back to lead the offense.

South Florida is the pick to win the American Athletic Conference and represent the Group of Five in the New Year's Six this season. I have them matched up with projected SEC runner-up Florida in the Peach Bowl. I'm sure the Gators would be thrilled beyond words with that pairing.

With the CFP semifinals in the Rose and Sugar Bowls this year, three of the other four New Year's Six matchups are simply at-large vs. at-large. That provides the greatest opportunity to have games filled with the most highly ranked teams. The best-case scenario for that to happen is for the semifinals to be games between conference champions with either the ACC, Big Ten or SEC left out. That would put the excluded team in the Orange Bowl, which is committed to an ACC versus Big Ten/SEC/Notre Dame matchup. The Group of Five champion will likely get one of those six other at-large spots, regardless of ranking, but the remaining five would go to the highest-rated teams left in the CFP Rankings.

Below are my first set of projections for the College Football Playoff and the entire 2017-18 bowl schedule ahead of the start of the season. All times Eastern

2018 College Football Playoff

Date Game / Loc. Time / TV Matchup Prediction Jan. 8 National Championship

Atlanta 8 p.m.

ESPN Title game Semifinal winners

Jan. 1 Rose Bowl

Pasadena, Calif. 5 p.m.

ESPN Semifinal (2) Ohio State vs. (3) USC Jan. 1 Sugar Bowl

New Orleans 8:45 p.m.

ESPN Semifinal (1) Alabama vs. (4) Florida State

Selection committee bowl games

Date Game / Loc. Time / TV Matchup Prediction Jan. 1 Peach

Atlanta 12:30 p.m.

ESPN At-large vs. At-large Florida vs. South Florida Dec. 30 Fiesta

Glendale, Ariz. 4 p.m.

ESPN At-large vs. At-large Wisconsin vs. Washington

Dec. 30 Orange

Miami 8 p.m.

ESPN ACC vs. Big Ten/SEC/ND Clemson vs Penn State

Dec. 29 Cotton

Arlington, Texas 8:30 p.m.

ESPN At-large vs. At-large Oklahoma State vs. LSU



Other bowl games