ESPN's Mark Schlabach went through and made some early predictions for the 2018 season including who he thought would end up in the College Football Playoff. After he made the bold prediction that Clemson would end up starting Trevor Lawrence at quarterback, Schlabach then went on to forecast who the Tigers would be joining in the College Football Playoff.
Even with a freshman quarterback, Clemson will join Alabama in the CFP. Two other teams with first-year quarterbacks — Oklahoma and Ohio State — will also make the four-team field.
Alabama shouldn't be a surprise, although they may have a quarterback controversy brewing with the emergence of Tua Tagovailoa. Oklahoma is a bit of a surprise here as they're losing stud quarterback Baker Mayfield and Ohio State is losing one of their best quarterbacks in school history in J.T. Barrett.
Clemson's defense may be enough to get them there again even with a new quarterback, but it is pretty early to make these predictions.
