This is the 4th week in which we’re taking a look at what my proposed 16-team NCAA playoff would look like.
If you need a refresher, take a look at the 1st 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 week’s version is delayed because I used the College Football Playoff rankings instead of the AP Poll to rank the teams, which scrambled some things up.
What would the bracket currently look like under this system? This.
# 16 Buffalo (MAC) at # 1 Alabama (SEC)
# 9 Georgia (at-large) at # 8 Cincinnati (AAC)
# 13 USC (Pac 12) at # 4 Ohio State (at-large)
# 12 Coastal Carolina (Sun Belt) at # 5 Texas A&M (at-large)
# 14 Marshall (CUSA) at # 3 Clemson (at-large)
# 11 Indiana (Big 10) at # 6 Florida (at-large)
# 10 Miami (at-large) at # 7 Iowa State (Big 12)
# 15 San Jose State (MWC) at # 2 Notre Dame (ACC)
IN: Indiana, USC
OUT: Oklahoma, Washington
A bizarre sequence of events here knocks Oklahoma out of the mythical bracket….temporarily at least. With Ohio State no longer eligible for the Big 10 title, that means that they are ineligible for the Big 10 automatic berth. Indiana, which is one spot behind Oklahoma in the CFP poll, takes the Big 10 berth. But with Ohio State still a high ranking team, they take Oklahoma’s at-large spot from them.
For Oklahoma, things would have sorted itself out since they will play # 7 Iowa State in the Big 12 title game anyway, but just a weird glitch of 2020 in this tournament that will never happen.
The real shakeup won’t come until the final version of this after all the conference title games will be played.
Championship Saturday will now have what are ultimately six eliminator games for teams that don’t have a path to the tournament otherwise: the Big 10, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac 12 and Sun Belt. With Tulsa at #24 in the CFP, you also have to think Cincinnati would ultimately drop out of range for an at-large big if they were to lose the American title game.
Doesn’t this sound more fun than arguing whether or not Ohio State deserves the #4 seed?