Legendary college football coach and current FOX analyst Urban Meyer has three National Championship rings to speak for, so it's fair to say that his evaluation of whether a team has the looks of a Championship contender is likely a little more reliable than that of an average f465an.

(Insert sly Jacksonville Jaguars joke here)

Over the weekend, the Ohio State Buckeyes played their annual spring game and FOX was there to cover the action. During the broadcast, Urban Meyer shared a practice that he used to partake in each year before the season began to take stock in where his team was at, and where the rest of the best teams in the country were. He explained:

“Every year, I used to do this. I’d make circles and I’d draw — I’d call them the Elite 8. Cause realistically there are not 12 teams that can win a national title,” Meyer said over the weekend, according to Andrew Hollaran of The Spun. “I don’t think so. I think every year there’s an 8. There’s my 8.”

The eight teams Meyer included on his list are as follows:

Alabama
Georgia
Ohio State
Ole Miss
Oregon
Michigan
Texas
Utah

What's interesting, or maybe the better word to use here is “predictable” about Meyer's selections is that except for Utah, the other seven teams included on Meyer's list are the seven betting favorites to win the National Championship next season. The Utes, who are currently +6600 to win the National Championship per Bet MGM, are the only “long shot” on the list, but then again, Meyer did spend two seasons as the head coach of the Utes.

As things stand right now, over four full months away from the beginning of the next college football season, the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Georgia Bulldogs are co-betting favorites to win the National Championship. It would be Ohio State's first National Title since Urban Meyer led the Buckeyes there in 2014. As for Georgia, their quest for a three-peat was dashed last year in the SEC Championship Game, but Kirby Smart's squad has reloaded and will once again be among the best teams in the country.

What I would like to learn about Meyer's annual exercise is what exactly he's looking at from one year to the next to determine how much championship equity each team has. Because to the naked eye, it looks like you or I could've made a similar list of potential title winning teams if we just looked at the odds provided by Bet MGM. How often does Meyer stray outside of the betting favorites? For example, would Urban Meyer have had Washington (+5000) on his preseason list last year? There's no way he would've included TCU (+23000) in 2022, despite the fact that the Horned Frogs would go on to make a surprising National Championship Game appearance.

With all of that said, exercises like this one are generally useful, and at the very least, a whole lot of fun, as we count down the days until the next college football season begins.