PASADENA, CA - JANUARY 05: Broadcaster Kirk Herbstreit speaks onstage during the "BCS Title Game" panel at the ESPN portion of the 2011 Winter TCA press tour held at the Langham Hotel on January 5, 2011 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

Kirk Herbstreit is predicting 8 teams to contend for the national championship this season

Some obvious, some not so.

College football season is still about four months away, but it's never too early for analysts to list championship contenders for the season.

Related: Kirk Herbstreit says there's one 'team to beat' for this season 

ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit recently predicted eight teams he thinks will contend for the 2017 national title.

Herbstreit said on Twitter he thinks Florida State, Alabama, Penn State, USC, Ohio State, Clemson, LSU and Washington will be in the mix for the title.

Herbstreit then added Wisconsin to the mix, and he thinks the Badgers could run the table.

 

No Big 12 team made the list, which is surprising given that Oklahoma returns Heisman finalist Baker Mayfield.

Those eight teams were contenders in 2016 as well, so it looks like Herbstreit expects 2017 to mirror last season as far as championship contenders go.

(h/t The Spun)