The final iteration of the four-team playoff is here for the 2023 college football season, but this is the perfect season to look ahead to next season when there will be a 12-team field.
After an eventful September, there appears to be no dominant team, but a bunch of really, really good ones. This is the ideal scenario for a 12-team College Football Playoff, where no team deserving of a shot at the national title will be left out.
For the purposes of this exercise, we will use the latest AP poll (which inexplicably still has Georgia at No. 1). The highest-ranked team in each conference will be our conference champion, and the highest non-champs will receive the at-larges.
Remember, next year there will presumably be five automatic bids and seven at-large, but we will use the original six champs-six at-large formula since the Pac-12 is still very much alive. The six highest-ranked league champs get automatic bids, and the four highest ranked league champs get byes in the first round.
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What a 12-team playoff would look like in 2023
With five weeks of the regular season in the books, this is how the seeding would look for a 12-team playoff:
1. Georgia (SEC champ)
2. Michigan (Big Ten champ)
3. Texas (Big 12 champ)
4. Florida State (ACC champ)
5. Ohio State
6. Penn State
7. Washington (Pac-12 champ)
8. Oregon
9. USC
10. Notre Dame
11. Alabama
12. Fresno State (MWC champ)
Alabama makes the 12-team playoff
Utah dropped out after dropping a 21-7 decision to Oregon State last Friday, making room for the Crimson Tide. That shakes up the projected first-round matchups. Also, Michigan and Texas are gaining on Georgia in the race for the No. 1 seed, which would alter the quarterfinal matchups.
MORE: AP voters need to stop voting Georgia No. 1
This 12-team field would be made up of six teams from the 2024 version of the Big Ten, three teams from the 2024 version of the SEC, plus Florida State, Notre Dame and Fresno State.
Projected 12-team playoff bracket for 2023
First-round matchups
Fresno State at Ohio State – Winner plays Florida State
Fresno State gets its time in the national spotlight this week with an 8 p.m. Fox game at Wyoming. Quarterback Mikey Keene doesn’t have enough firepower around him to challenge the Buckeyes, but he’s had a heck of a season.
Alabama at Penn State – Winner plays Texas
Keith Jackson is calling this one from heaven. Two iconic programs (with iconically boring uniforms) playing in front of 100,000 with Texas on deck? Literally no college football fan says no to this.
Notre Dame at Washington – Winner plays Michigan
The Irish have to go to the West Coast to face perhaps the scariest quarterback in the nation in Michael Penix, Jr. ND is 8-0 all-time against U-Dub. Think it might be a little loud in Seattle?
USC at Oregon – Winner plays Georgia
A Pac-12 donnybrook with two great quarterbacks but only one great defense. Ducks would love another crack at Georgia after last year’s embarrassing opener.
