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.
With Alabama, Penn State and BYU all losing, this ranking looks a whole lot different than it would have otherwise.
What would the bracket currently look like under this system? This.
# 16 Kent State (MAC) at # 1 Georgia (SEC)
# 9 Michigan State (At-large) at #8 Penn State (at-large)
# 13 San Diego State (MWC) at # 4 Cincinnati (at-large)
# 12 Arizona State (Pac-12) at # 5 Alabama (at-large)
# 14 Texas-San Antonio (CUSA) at # 3 Oklahoma (Big 12)
# 11 Wake Forest (ACC) at # 6 Ohio State (at-large)
# 10 Coastal Carolina (Sun Belt) at # 7 Michigan (at-large)
# 15 Houston (AAC) at #2 Iowa (Big 10)
Almost every matchup is different from last week, save a repeat of Wake Forest/Ohio State even though both teams switched positions.
Again, two teams are in the American right now, as well as four teams from the Big 10. Houston having a better conference record (for now) than Cincinnati is the thing that kept a fifth Big 10 team (Michigan State) out of this playoff.