My favorite National and Conference Championship picks.

It’s your boy, Steak, and it’s officially time to start putting all my CFB futures on paper. So, today, I am going to give you two National Championship and two Conference Championship picks I LOVE. College football season is around the corner, and I CAN’T WAIT to talk about it.

National Championship:

Georgia Bulldogs +800

Listen, the Big Ten has won three Nattys in a row, and while I think that pisses off a lot of people in SEC land, there’s no one it pisses off more than Kirby Smart.

Georgia was good last year, winning the SEC regular season and then dominating rival Alabama in the championship game. After getting a bye, they were stifled in a rematch against Ole Miss and Trinidad Chambliss.

Georgia, in my opinion, was good enough to win it all last year, and they’re even better this year. Gunner Stockton is my favorite Georgia QB in quite some time a dual-threat guy who makes very few mistakes and can make huge plays.

This team returns SEVENTEEN starters, which is absolutely unheard of in this era of college football with the transfer portal. Georgia avoids Texas, LSU and Texas A&M, which I think makes them a literal lock to make the College Football Playoff.

If you’re looking for a weakness on this team, go ahead and keep looking. They don’t have one. The O-line is full of size and talent, and the entire secondary will probably be playing on Sundays.

+800 might not be all that juicy, but I think it’s great value for how dominant this team should be.

Oregon +800

Listen, we all have Oregon fatigue. I get it. Every year, we get all pumped up by Dan Lanning’s interviews and locker-room speeches. Every year, we get excited about the unique collection of talent Oregon puts together, and every year whether it’s in embarrassing fashion or not they come up short.

But what if I told you Dante Moore, one of the best QBs in college football, was all set to enter the NFL Draft and be picked No. 2 overall by the New York Jets? This team was staring down the barrel of starting Dylan Raiola at QB, but instead, Moore is back under center.

I genuinely believe this is the most talented team Dante Moore has ever played on and Dan Lanning has ever coached. They return two running backs who were both freshmen last year and combined for 1,300 yards and 20 TDs. They also return two NFL-ready defensive ends who combined for 15.5 sacks last year.

They return 13 starters, and between Dakorien Moore, Evan Stewart and a guy with one of my favorite names in CFB, Iverson Hooks a transfer from UAB who had almost 1,000 yards and seven TDs I believe the receiver room is up there with the best in the country.

But as I touched on earlier, it’s put-up-or-shut-up time for not only Dan Lanning, but the Oregon Ducks. Can they win the big one? I think they can.

The schedule isn’t easy, but they avoid Indiana, which was their kryptonite last year, and they get Washington and Michigan at home. So, even with a loss to Ohio State, I’d still have Oregon as a virtual lock to make the playoff.

Apologies for going so chalky with the Natty winners, but I genuinely believe there are only a few teams capable of winning it this year. I’ll try to be a bit more fun with the Conference Championship picks.

Louisville to win the ACC +750

Myself and Jeff Sunday are known Jeff Brohm respecters. It’s had its good and bad moments, but one thing is for certain: With the exception of Miller Moss, Brohm usually gets the most out of his QBs.

Tyler Shough, David Blough, Aidan O’Connell and Jack Plummer, to name a few.

So, while I do not know what to expect from Ohio State transfer Lincoln Kienholz, I do know he’s being placed in one of the better situations in the country to be successful.

Louisville may have the best RB in the conference in Isaac Brown. They also got Tre Richardson in the portal from Vandy, a guy who had 800 yards and seven TDs last year.

The transfer portal class is ranked No. 2 nationally by On3, which is insane. But none of that is even my favorite reason for liking Louisville to win the ACC.

They don’t play Miami, the team that is -150 to win the conference and was the national runner-up last year. Not only do they avoid Miami, but they also don’t play Clemson, and they get SMU at home. Plus, a season opener against Ole Miss will have this team battle-tested.

I think Louisville has everything you need to make a run at the ACC.

Houston +1600

Houston might be the least-talked-about 10-win team from last year that returns its starting QB. I think I know why: This is probably Texas Tech’s conference to not only win, but completely run through.

However, there’s absolutely no fun to be had at -105. To be honest, I don’t think Utah or BYU offers good enough value to win this thing either.

That leads me to the Cougars.

Not only do they return Texas A&M transfer Conner Weigman, who had a very solid first year at Houston, but they also return his No. 1 receiving option, Amare Thomas, who had 1,000 yards and 14 TDs last year.

Houston also strengthened the WR room through the portal by landing transfers from Florida and Texas Tech. The offensive line and running game should be bolstered by a pair of Tulane transfers: guard Shadre Hurst, who was first-team All-AAC last year, and RB Makhi Hughes, who rushed for 2,800 yards during his first two years at Tulane before struggling to find a role on the Oregon roster.

The bad news is that Houston has to travel to Utah, Texas Tech and Kansas State. The good news is that it avoids BYU, Arizona and TCU.

As a whole, if Texas Tech has an unexpectedly bad year, I think Houston is a team that could capitalize.