The benefit of hindsight is a luxury of mid-December. We more or less know how it all shook out with the 2023 college football season as bowl/playoff season approaches.

Back in the summer was a different story.

Anything was possible when various writers and prognosticators from around the nation did their forecasts for the season to come. So now that we’re plowing straight into the crescendo of another crazy season, let’s take a look back at just how unpredictable the fall of 2023 turned out.

First off, everyone had Georgia in the playoff. Everyone. And it’s hard to blame them considering the previous two seasons and the first 12 games of this one. There was no reason to believe the Bulldogs wouldn’t get a shot at a third straight championship until sometime in the second half of the SEC Championship.

Without further delay, let’s run down the predictions.

In terms of picking the four playoff teams, nobody was really close to nailing each. There were several who picked USC and we know how that turned out. Two, however picked Alabama to make the playoff.

ESPN.com

Mark Schlabach and Kyle Bonagura picked each of the bowl games and playoff semifinals. One hit the Rose Bowl on the head.

• Bonagura: Michigan vs. Alabama
• Schlabach: Michigan vs. USC

In the Sugar Bowl, not one of the four hit.

• Bonagura: Georgia vs. Florida State
• Schlabach: Georgia vs. Ohio State

Schlabach, who didn’t have the Crimson Tide in the playoff, slotted Alabama to play in the Peach Bowl against a Clemson team that disappointed and landed in the Gator Bowl against Kentucky.

With Auburn, Bonagura was one of several who picked the Tigers to play in the Birmingham Bowl. He had UAB as the opponent. Schlabach didn’t include Auburn in his projections.

CBS Sports

This site was a mixed bag. We’ll get to the wrong part in a bit, but there was another perfect pick for the Rose Bowl. Jerry Palm joined Bonagura in forecasting a Michigan-Alabama showdown in Pasadena. Palm’s playoff picks:

• Rose Bowl: Alabama vs. Michigan
• Sugar Bowl: Georgia vs. Ohio State

Palm had eventual semifinalist Texas playing Clemson in the Peach Bowl and Washington all the way down in the Alamo Bowl against Oklahoma. Still, credit for getting the Rose Bowl perfect.

On the Auburn side, he had the Tigers facing North Carolina in the Mayo Bowl.

Yahoo Sports

Not a bowl projection but Sam Cooper’s early 2023 ranking that published Jan. 10 at least had the Crimson Tide closer to the top than others. Behind preseason No. 1 Georgia, Cooper had the Crimson Tide at No. 2.

He was also solid with Michigan at No. 3 but the other two playoff teams were further off the radar. He had Washington at No. 11 and Texas at No. 16.

Anyway, here’s what Cooper had to say about Alabama when slotting them No. 2.

Alabama always reloads but how will the Crimson Tide fare without Bryce Young and Will Anderson? Young could end up as the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft. Jalen Milroe and Ty Simpson look like the main candidates to take the reins at quarterback. Milroe showed flashes when he filled in for an injured Young, but also struggled with turnovers. Simpson, meanwhile, was a top-40 recruit in the 2022 class. The skill positions look good on paper, and there are burgeoning stars all over the place on defense, including Dallas Turner, Malachi Moore and Kool-Aid McKinstry. With LSU visiting Bryant-Denny Stadium, will Alabama be able to return to the top of the SEC West?

A number of outlets were off when projecting both Alabama and Auburn’s postseason plans.

Several had Alabama in a New Year’s Six game, but not the playoff.

• Peach Bowl: Alabama vs. Clemson, according to The Sporting News. Got 1 of 4 playoff teams (Michigan).
• Peach Bowl: Alabama vs. Tulane, according to 247Sports. Got 2 of 4 playoff teams correct (Texas and Michigan)
• Cotton Bowl: Alabama vs. Texas Tech, according to The Action Network. Got 2 of 4 playoff teams right (Washington and Michigan)
• Peach Bowl: Alabama vs. Penn State, according to The Bleacher Report. Got 1 of 4 playoff teams (Michigan) while including USC and Clemson.
• Peach Bowl: Alabama vs. Penn State, according to CollegeFootballNews.com. Got 1 of 4 playoff teams (Michigan)

We could find one outlet that picked Alabama to go to a bowl game outside of the New Year’s Six.

• Alabama vs. Iowa in the Citrus Bowl, according to The Athletic. Got 1 of 4 playoff teams (Michigan) while including LSU and USC.

Of all the Auburn picks, none had the Music City Bowl where the Tigers will meet Maryland. Those predictions:

• Auburn vs. TCU in the Texas Bowl, according to The Athletic.
• Auburn vs. Georgia Tech in the Gasparilla Bowl, according to the Sporting News.
• Auburn vs. Louisville in the Gator Bowl, according to the Action Network
• Auburn vs. Liberty in the Birmingham Bowl, according to The Bleacher Report
• Auburn vs. Iowa State in Birmingham Bowl, according to College Football News.

Two of the predictions got it very wrong, at least when it came to Alabama. We’ll let their words do the talking.

CBS Sports tagged Alabama among the most overrated teams along with Texas. They were right when including USC, South Carolina and Colorado, but naming two of the four eventual playoff teams on the overrated light is a tough beat. What CBS Sports said about Alabama:

This is the fifth time in Nick Saban’s Alabama coaching tenure that he’s fielded a team with new coordinators on both sides of the ball. None of the other four teams won the national championship. The Crimson Tide are also replacing former Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young at quarterback and a defensive superstar in Will Anderson Jr. from a team that failed to win its division. Despite all this, voters at SEC Media Days picked Alabama to win the SEC West. AP Top 25 voters pegged the Crimson Tide at No. 4 nationally, and the Coaches Poll put the Crimson Tide at No. 3 behind only Georgia and Michigan. Alabama is talented enough to win the SEC and make the CFP, but the assumption that it will accomplish those things is rooted in nothing more than blind faith in Saban, who turns 72 this season.

Then there’s the following post from our friends at The Football Nerds. We spoke with Josh for a story that ran Wednesday but we can’t overlook a preseason story and YouTube video on why Alabama was overrated in the preseason.

It cites Jalen Milroe’s issues extending beyond the 2022 Texas A&M game, new faces playing key roles and a “brutal” schedule.

The lead-in to the points made above hints to the tongue-in-cheek nature of the post.

But Nerd Josh, destroyer of worlds, had the idea to do an entire roast series for the FPI top 10, including a perennial top one team, Alabama. We spent over an hour poking holes in every elite team’s 2023 season before it got started. It was honestly a lot of fun. Largely because we know we’re going to be wrong.

Give it a read and remember it’s easy to judge in retrospect.

It happens to the best of us.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.