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Josh Pate predicted the 2025 College Football Playoff ahead of the season, picking all 12 participants and the first-round matchups.

Dec 29, 2022; Atlanta, GA, USA; The College Football Playoff trophy inside the College Football Hall of Fame during media day for the Peach Bowl. Mandatory Credit: Adam Cairns-The Columbus Dispatch

College football analyst Josh Pate has predicted the 2025 College Football Playoff participants ahead of the season. His picks are sure to rile up some fanbases.

The Big Ten takes home the top overall seed, with Penn State earning the No. 1 overall seed from the noted college football analyst. Other teams with a first-round bye include Alabama, Texas and Oregon.

Where things get interesting is in the bottom half of the bracket. Pate had some teams that currently reside outside the top 12 of the AP Poll, some by quite a bit, making the field on Josh Pate’s College Football Show.

Among them? Florida and Nebraska.

Pate had the following to say about Florida making the College Football Playoff. But it’s the matchups that are created based on his bracket that get really interesting.

Florida would be matched up with arch-rival Georgia in the first round of the playoffs. Hosting in the Swamp.

“It’s interesting because of what the first-round matchups would be,” Pate said. “If that is the bracket, and I have little reason to doubt that it will be. This is very non-controversial as we all know. We would have Georgia going to Gainesville, Fla., to play a playoff game in the first round.

“So there’s that. They won’t give me that game on campus for the regular season version. Even in years where Jacksonville’s stadium is being renovated they’re playing it at a neutral site. It’s insane. Well I am forcing them to play the Georgia-Florida game in either Athens or Gainesville because I’m going to put them in the first round of the playoff.”

As for Nebraska, Pate is clearly expecting big things from the Cornhuskers and coach Matt Rhule as they get further into the Dylan Raoila era. And Pate was making no apologies for his pick.

You can view the entire College Football Playoff projections from Pate below. We’ve also include the playoff bracket for your viewing convenience.