Oregon Desmond Howard Jan 1, 2024; Pasadena, CA, USA; Desmond Howard on the ESPN College Gameday set at the 2024 Rose Bowl college football playoff semifinal game at Rose Bowl. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The first College GameDay of the season has come and gone. With Florida State and Georgia Tech battling in Ireland, the GameDay crew went overseas to begin the year.

Toward the end of the broadcast, the panel predicted who would win the 2024 College Football Playoff National Championship. Longtime GameDay panelist Desmond Howard stepped up to predict that while it won’t be his Michigan Wolverines, it won’t be the hated Ohio State Buckeyes either.

Howard predicted the Oregon Ducks would win their first National Championship in program history. Howard is one of many who likes the Ducks a lot this year, and there’s plenty of good reason for that.

The college football legend and former Heisman winner picked the Ducks to win, joining Kirk Herbstreit in that company as well.

There’s a lot of people who like the Ducks this year. This is arguably one of the most talented teams in Oregon program history. They’re loaded on both sides of the ball and carry few weaknesses along with them this season. In other words, expect the Ducks to be active this year. We’ll see if they make good on this prediction.

[Zachary Neel]

About Chris Novak

Chris Novak has been talking and writing about sports ever since he can remember. Previously, Novak wrote for and managed sites in the SB Nation network for nearly a decade from 2013-2022