Let's Have a Real Playoff, End of 2022 Season
Plus: A look at how flawed the College Football Playoff Planned Expansion is
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.
What would the final 2022 bracket look like under this system? This.
# 16 Toledo (MAC) at # 1 Georgia (SEC)
# 9 Kansas State (Big 12) at #8 Utah (Pac-12)
# 13 Troy (Sun Belt) at # 4 Ohio State (At-Large)
# 12 Tulane (AAC) at # 5 Alabama (At-Large)
# 14 UTSA (CUSA) at # 3 TCU (At-Large)
# 11 Penn State (At-Large) at # 6 Tennessee (At-Large)
# 10 USC (At-Large) at # 7 Clemson (ACC)
# 15 Fresno State (MWC) at #2 Michigan (Big 10)
USC’s loss to Utah and TCU’s loss to Kansas State changed a lot about the current College Football Playoff. But didn’t do much other than scramble the order in this version of the playoff.
But these final rankings show the limitations of a 16-team tournament or a 12-team tournament. The same teams, #1-#12, would be in the planned College Football Playoff expansion as it is here. The proposed expansion would only exclude teams #13-#16. But the order would be radically different. Here is what the current playoff would look like, based on the seeding:
BYES: # 1 Georgia, # 2 Michigan, # 3 Clemson, # 4 Utah
# 12 Tulane vs # 5 TCU
# 11 Penn State vs # 6 Ohio State
# 10 USC vs # 7 Alabama
# 9 Kansas State vs # 8 Tennessee
That two teams that made the College Football Playoff get bumped down two seeds under the new system is rather bizarre. Much in the same way that if Notre Dame were 12-0 and # 1 in the country they would get busted down to a # 5 seed in the 2024 rules.
Why should a team like Utah, who lost three games, get a bye while TCU, who played a tougher schedule and lost only one game by three points, have to play an extra game? Or why does Clemson, who lost to an 8-4 South Carolina team, get a bye when Alabama lost two road games to two top-level teams by a combined four points?
Either way, a 16-team playoff (or, yes a 24-team playoff like in Division I-AA) is better than what we have now AND better than what’s on the table for ‘24.