Clay Travis' Christmas Gift To You: A 7-0 Record To Start The College Football Playoff Slate

I'm back posting picks for the college football playoff here on the site. 

Apologies, I've been on the road pretty much for the past two weeks and after our brutal final week when we went 5-12, I gave out five picks on The Fade and my Twitter account over the past two weeks -- the four conference title games and Army-Navy, we went 4-1 in those -- and we now sit at 91-95 over the course of the season. 

Which gives us ample time to get back into positive territory on the playoff games. 

I tend to only bet the college football playoff games in the postseason now because it's almost impossible to predict who is going to play in the college football bowl games or which teams actually care in any way about winning or losing to a significant degree. 

Honestly, as I've said on OutKick shows recently, it's past time to even continue playing bowls at all. 

Let's just expand the playoff officially to either 16 or 24, I'm fine with either, do away with the conference title games, and get right to the playoff starting as soon as possible. 

That's what should happen in the future. 

But in the meantime, I've got seven winners for all of you in the playoff games, which start on Friday night. 

Isaiah Horton of the Alabama Crimson Tide. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Alabama -1.5 at Oklahoma and the under 40.5

I feel very confident this will be an ugly, defensive battle in Norman, not all that dissimilar from what we saw a few weeks ago in Tuscaloosa. 

Both these offenses, frankly, have completely and totally regressed down the stretch of the season and I don't think anything will change in the playoff. They are what we've seen: two quarterbacks will do their best to make plays behind offensive lines that don't do a great job protecting them and running games that don't do much to alleviate the pressure on them either. 

Which means this game, like the game a few weeks ago, will come down to turnovers and, potentially, which quarterback can make a huge play late to extend a drive. 

Oklahoma has been very fortunate of late when it comes to forcing turnovers. That's essentially how the Sooners won in Alabama.  

I think that luck runs out and Alabama squeezes out a 20-17 win in Norman.

Which means we hit on the Tide and the under.  

Marcel Reed of the Texas A&M Aggies. (Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images)

Miami +3.5 at Texas A&M

This is often the case in big games, but I think it's even more the case than usual -- whichever quarterback protects the football will lead his team to a victory. 

Both Carson Beck and Marcel Reed have been, at times, phenomenal this season and also, at times, not very good at all. Witness, for instance, the first and second half discrepancy in play from Texas A&M's Reed against South Carolina. In the first half he looked like he hadn't played football all season, in the second half he looked like the best player in college football. 

The same has been true of Carson Beck, much like it was at Georgia. 

Some weeks, Carson Beck has looked like he should be the overall number one pick, other weeks he's looked like he shouldn't be drafted at all. 

So what happens in Aggieland?

I'm taking A&M by a point on a late touchdown, 28-27. 

Which means I'm trying to thread the needle here, taking Miami to cover, but A&M to win. 

Good luck to us on this pick in what will, I think, be, by far, the best game of the first round. 

Harrison Wallace III of the Mississippi Rebels. (Photo by Justin Ford/Getty Images)

Tulane at Ole Miss -17, and the over 56.5

We have already seen these two teams play once and Ole Miss blew out Tulane. 

Now both teams have lost their head coaches to SEC rivals -- Tulane's, soon to be at Florida, will be on the field, Ole Miss's, already at LSU, will not. But the overall talent differential hasn't changed since the last time these two teams played. 

Ole Miss is just much better than Tulane is.

That's especially the case with what should be the best home field for the biggest game in Rebel history. 

I do, however, like the over here too because Ole Miss's defense has been mediocre all season. 

Giving us a final score of Ole Miss 42, Tulane 21. 

Boom, a double playoff win, the Rebels and the over.  

Head coach Dan Lanning of the Oregon Ducks leads his team onto the field prior a game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Autzen Stadium on November 14, 2025 in Eugene, Oregon. (Photo by Soobum Im/Getty Images)

James Madison at Oregon -20.5

My prediction for JMU?

Pain. 

The Ducks are going to win 45-14 and dominate on both sides of the ball, giving us a perfect 7-0 weekend.

...

Get rich, kids. 

And ride the picks to a 7-0 promised land!