A year after the College Football Playoff featured a bit of new flavor, Desmond Howard thinks the field is going to be fraught with it in 2022.

The ESPN commentator and former Michigan man revealed his College Football Playoff picks on ESPN’s first College GameDay of the new season Saturday and they are… something. Howard has Texas A&M, Pitt, Michigan, and Baylor making the four-team playoff. He also thinks the Aggies win the national championship this season.

A few things worth pointing out.

Alabama has appeared in seven of the eight CFPs we’ve seen. Last season was also the first year the CFP field hasn’t featured two of Alabama, Ohio State, and Clemson. But the Tide and Buckeyes are expected to once again contend for a spot. As is Georgia, the defending national champion, notably absent from Howards’ picks.

Both David Pollack and Lee Corso predicted Utah would make the CFP when they offered their picks. The rest of the crew had what can probably be termed “safe” selections. Corso and Kirk Herbstreit picked Ohio State to win the title. Pollack went with Alabama.  Howard went with the wild cards across the board.

Texas A&M hasn’t won double-digit games in a season since 2012. In fact, through his first 48 games as the head coach, Jimbo Fisher has the same number of wins as Kevin Sumlin did in his first 48 at A&M (34), fewer wins over ranked opponents (seven to Sumlin’s nine), and zero road wins over ranked opponents (Sumlin had five).

The Aggies play Alabama on the road on Oct. 8.

As for the Pitt pick, the Panthers won the ACC last season thanks to a prolific offense, but the primary drivers for that success have all left the program. Quarterback Kenny Pickett, a Heisman finalist for his play, is in the NFL. Wideout Jordan Addison, the Biletnikoff winner, is in Los Angeles with USC. Offensive coordinator Mark Whipple is now at Nebraska. The Panthers will be led by former USC quarterback Kedon Slovis in 2022, and ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI) gives them a 1.1% chance of making the CFP.

A non-Oklahoma Big 12 team has never made the CFP.

FPI gives Utah a better chance of making the CFP than three of Howard’s four teams — A&M, Pitt, and Baylor.