The majority of the top college football teams in the nation are days away from starting legitimate competition, and ESPN's GameDay crew is getting set for the season by making its predictions for the year. It may not be much of a surprise that ESPN's Desmond Howard selected Michigan as one of the 4 College Football Playoff teams.

Howard, a former Heisman Trophy winner for the Wolverines, then took it a step further by picking Michigan to defeat Alabama in the win National Championship game.

While it may seem inevitable that a former Michigan star is selecting his former team to come away with the title, Howard has been on the GameDay crew for years and has regularly demonstrated an independent and unbiased attitude when asked to make predictions in the past.

He has selected Michigan to win some big games, but he has also picked against Michigan in the past. The Wolverines figure to have one of the top defensive teams in the nation, but it's the combination of quarterback J.J. McCarthy and running back Blake Corum that could spell the difference for the Wolverines.

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McCarthy is the unquestioned No. 1 at the quarterback position for Michigan, and it took him several games to gain that status last year. Corum was one of the prime Heisman Trophy candidates last year, but he was derailed when he suffered a knee injury late in the season. If he can stay healthy this year, Corum should have an excellent chance of earning the most famous trophy in college sports.

Desmond Howard also sees Florida State, Alabama and Texas as the teams that will earn spots in the College Football Playoff.