Remember the last two years, when I was beating the drum for a 16-team College Football Playoff? Let’s do it again.
If you need a refresher, take a look at last year’s version. But the short version is this: In my playoff scenario, all ten conference champions automatically make the tournament. The field is then rounded out with six at-large teams. Independent schools would be eligible to make the field as an at-large selection.
This is the first time that I am doing this after the announcement of the anticipated 12-team playoff coming in 2024-ish. That playoff of course is still flawed because not every conference champion makes it. Which is what you really need to truly crown a champion.
Now that we have the CFP Playoff in place, we are using those rankings. Which of course *really* scrambled things at the top with Tennessee jumping to #1.
What would the bracket currently look like under this system? This.
# 16 Toledo (MAC) at # 1 Georgia (SEC)
# 9 Alabama (At-Large) at #8 USC (At-Large)
# 13 Coastal Carolina (Sun Belt) at # 4 TCU (Big 12)
# 12 Tulane (AAC) at # 5 Tennessee (At-Large)
# 14 UTSA (CUSA) at # 3 Michigan (At-Large)
# 11 Ole Miss (At-Large) at # 6 Oregon (Pac-12)
# 10 Clemson (ACC) at # 7 LSU (At-Large)
# 15 Boise State (MWC) at #2 Ohio State (Big 10)
C’mon, tell me you wouldn’t want to see both Alabama and Clemson have to go on the road to keep advancing in the playoffs. Heck, you could get the Death Valley Chamber of Commerce as a special sponsor of the Clemson-LSU game.