Heather Dinich: Transfer portal led to wide-open College Football Playoff field

The first few weeks of this season have come and gone but there’s still a double-digit number of teams that truly believe in their College Football Playoff chance.

ESPN insider Heather Dinich knows that has not been the case in most years.

Dinich was on The Paul Finebaum Show on Wednesday and explained why she thinks there’s so many teams that have to like their College Football Playoff chances at this time.

“What I like to look at is the combination of eye test and resume,” Dinich said. “But what I will say about the playoff predictor is that it does illustrate just how much deeper this year’s field goes because right now, there are at least 10 teams with a 20% chance to get into the College Football Playoff. And at this time a year ago, there were only five and three of them were TCU, Georgia and Michigan. All got in. We’re literally talking about twice as many teams at this point in the season. As much as you and I are a little differing in our top four, you could make a case for half a dozen teams at No. 1 right now.”

The 10 teams with a 20% or better chance of making the playoff, according to the ESPN Playoff Predictor are the following: Ohio State, Oklahoma, Texas, Oregon, Penn State, Georgia, Florida State, Alabama, Washington and Michigan.

The Buckeyes have the best chance at 54% while the Sooners are right behind them at 53%. The Longhorns are the only other team with a 50% chance or greater. They are at exactly 50%.

Dinich then explained some of the reasons she believes that this year feels as wide open as any other year in recent college football history.

“The transfer portal has certainly changed coaches’ rosters,” Dinich said. “Deion Sanders is the perfect example of that at Colorado and the transformation that they have had. But also I think a big part of it is just turnover. I spoke to a coach today who talked about Nick Saban’s roster and said look, they have two new coordinators — I don’t really throw Kevin Steele in there but — a new quarterback. They’re trying to figure things out. They’re trying to find their identity. It’s hard to just start the season and look like a national championship team. I think that people sometimes forget that as we go through September.”