It's never too early to obsess over who will reach the College Football Playoff. But in an already unprecedented season, one in which only two of the five Power 5 leagues have kicked off -- and both the Big Ten and Pac-12 have a distance to go before they get on the field -- the Allstate Playoff Predictor has its share of early-season, small sample-size surprises.
What else might you say about Wisconsin (39% to reach the Playoff) and UCF (32%), neither of which has ever reached the CFP, as top-5 entries in this week's version of the Predictor?
Or what about Notre Dame (11%), which logged one of Saturday's most impressive results in a shutout of South Florida, appearing in the No. 10 position of this week's rankings? Or playoff regular Oklahoma (8%), still a popular choice to emerge from the Big 12, appearing in the No. 13 position?
Yes, there are still many miles to go in the 2020 season, and the SEC schedule kicking off this Saturday might bring some additional clarity to the postseason picture.
As for dependable storylines, Clemson (68%), Ohio State (67%) and Alabama (65%) appearing in the top three positions looks a bit more like what we're used to.
A look at the top of the rankings after Week 3: