Remember last year, 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 week’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.
Since the College Football Playoff rankings won’t come out until November 2nd, I am currently using the AFCA Coaches Poll. Which I trust a lot more than the AP poll.
This year is still taking on a 2007 vibe. That was the year that #2’s kept losing. Cincinnati is now #2, which is again reminiscent of 2007 when California, South Florida, Boston College and Kansas all took a turn at #2. And they only beat Navy yesterday by seven despite being double-digit favorites.
2007 was also the year 2-loss LSU won the National Title. Keep that in mind as we progress.
What would the bracket currently look like under this system? This.
# 16 Northern Illinois (MAC) at # 1 Georgia (SEC)
# 9 Ole Miss (at-large) at #8 Michigan State (at-large)
# 13 Texas-San Antonio (CUSA) at # 4 Oklahoma (Big 12)
# 12 San Diego State (MWC) at # 5 Ohio State (Big 10)
# 14 Louisiana (Sun Belt) at # 3 Alabama (at-large)
# 11 Wake Forest (ACC) at # 6 Michigan (at-large)
# 10 Iowa (at-large) at # 7 Oregon (Pac-12)
# 15 Houston (AAC) at #2 Cincinnati (at-large)
There was some shuffling in some spots, but most of the automatic berths held serve. Wake Forest, San Diego State, and UTSA all moved down because Oregon jumped Utah in the Pac-12 standings. That paved the way for Iowa to get back in the picture.
Amazingly, the only matchup here where two teams from the same conference play each other is the Cincinnati-Houston all AAC matchup.
There are still four Big Ten teams in the tournament, but a third SEC team (Ole Miss) jumps in.