Danny Kanell picks surprise team to win the national championship

CBS Sports and Sirius XM college football analyst Danny Kanell has filled out his bracket for the College Football Playoff, and he has an underdog emerging from the pack to win it all.

A national champion himself at Florida State in 1993, Kanell tabs the No. 5-seed Oregon Ducks to beat James Madison at home, Texas Tech in the Orange Bowl, top Indiana in a rematch at the Peach Bowl in Atlanta, then defeat defending champion Ohio State at Hard Rock Stadium on January 19.

Kanell predicts Oregon to move on and go deep

It'll require the Ducks to be road warriors as the bracket has them traveling to Miami for a 9 a.m. PT kickoff on New Year's Day, playing 8 days later in Atlanta versus the Hoosiers to win the chance at a 2025 Rose Bowl rematch against the Buckeyes; three games in 19 days, potentially, six plane flights, unless they decide to train on location.

Since the last three games are in the Southeast (Mercedes Benz Stadium, climate-controlled, Hard Rock Stadium with a retractable roof with the fans sheltered from rain) Oregon might elect to stay and practice rather than make a series of long plane flights-- the itinerary hasn't been made public as yet. They've still got to get past James Madison.

Kanell's bracket has Georgia handling Ole Miss but falling to OSU in the other semifinal, Miami and Oklahoma exiting in the quarterfinals.

Dan Lanning doesn't talk about injuries, but a big factor in Oregon's playoff chances is their health in the offensive line and at wide receiver. In their 26-14 win over Washington the Ducks had starting center Iapani Laloulu, right tackle Alex Harkey and Isaiah World all playing through injuries, while six scholarship receivers missed the game altogether, including Dakorien Moore, Evan Stewart and Gary Bryant Jr.

Yesterday Lanning offered a mildly hopeful update on Moore, commenting without specifics on his rehab. "I think it starts with mindset. Dakorien, like several other guys that've been in that position," he said, "realize they have a job to do as far as pushing themselves to be back in position where they can help this team."

After taking a break for weight training and rehab, classes and finals, the Ducks go back to practice on Tuesday. Lanning told the reporters, "Ultimately, the process is the part you have in place. The process has to be very similar to a normal game, but the stakes are certainly really high knowing that this is, you know, if you know, if you don't take care of business, you don't get a redo, you don't get another opportunity."

"So there is a difference, but I think that the piece for us is to focus on what allows you to have success and what creates the result you want. And that's maintaining that process."