College Football Playoff: How a 16-team bracket would play out

1. Alabama vs. 9. Washington

With Alabama topping Will Grier and West Virginia and then Washington ending the winning streak of UCF in the first round of this 16-team College Football Playoff, the Crimson Tide and Huskies would then face off in the first quarterfinal matchup on the bracket. This would no doubt be another matchup for the Huskies where they would be looking to try and win with their defense, looking to slow down Tua Tagovailoa and the Tide to try and pull off the upset.

The truth is, Washington would need a defensive performance of a lifetime to keep them in this game, though. Though Jake Browning and Myles Gaskin have great experience on offense for the Huskies, that unit has proven to be as pedestrian as they come in college football this season. And when put up against Quinnen Williams and this Alabama defense, they are going to struggle to move the ball really at all in this match.

What makes matters even worse for Washington is that, as good and talented as their defense is, I’m not sure they have the firepower on that side of the ball to consistently stop Bama’s offense. The Crimson Tide have so much speed on the outside, size and power up front and a combination of everything in the backfield. The Huskies defense simply can’t hang with those matchups for 60 minutes.

As disappointing as a blowout can be, that’s how the top-ranked quarterfinal matchup in this bracket would play out. The Tide are just miles better than the Huskies right now and that would show up on the scoreboard.

Prediction: Alabama 42, Washington 7