by Here’s a bracket I created that illustrates what the 12-team College Football Playoff would look like if the season ended today.
Quick disclaimer: I excluded Alabama and added Tulane at #12 just because the Group of Five needs and will get some love once the actual 12-team playoff format is introduced. Get used to it.
But look at those first round matchups!
If we’re being realistic, in this season’s continued four-team structure we’ll most likely see a Georgia team cruise through a cupcake schedule and reach the playoff as an automatic top-two seed just because they did what they were supposed to. One can argue that Florida State and Texas are in the same boat.
So right there are three teams that control their own destiny and clearly have easier paths to the playoff because their conference play is down and they have weaker schedules.
On the other hand, the Pac-12 and the three big programs in the Big-10 will bully each other all season and be lucky to make the four-team playoff with a loss (at least for the Pac-12) assuming Georgia, Florida State and Texas all go undefeated. The depth in the Pac-12 and number of elite teams at the top of those two conferences this season is remarkable. There are at least six teams out of the Pac-12 and Big-10 alone that are deserving of a playoff nod right now.
We touched base with it on our podcast last week, but the parity in the sport this year is epic. As a result, fan engagement has increased and so has the overall popularity of the sport (and yes, Deion has a lot to do with it). We’re no longer seeing the SEC dominate the landscape of the sport and have a team or two as a clear-cut national championship favorite. That’s not to say that Georgia won’t three-peat, but the national title hunt has not been this wide open in a long time.
While teams and fans are a year away from the playoff expansion, you almost wonder if the CFP committee could work some magic and change the format mid-season just because of how exciting the race is going to be. Sadly, we don’t live in a perfect world.
Through just four weeks this season, we’ve already seen ratings skyrocket with the whole Colorado narrative and huge primetime games like OSU vs. ND. You don’t think a 12-team playoff will match or exceed those viewership numbers?
The NCAA and CFP need to sack up and give the people what they want! This season has been nothing short of awesome. It’s just unfortunate that we’re a year shy of what would be the greatest postseason in the history of the sport.