What the 12-team College Football Playoff would have looked like in 2023
The College Football Playoff will be expanding from its four-team format to 12 teams in 2024, but Florida State wishes it would have happened this year. The Seminoles, champions of the ACC and owners of a 13-0 record were passed over in the final College Football Playoff rankings by 12-1 SEC champion Alabama, fueling the fire for the incoming college football playoff field to be expanded sooner rather than later.
Of course, that won’t be happening. But we can still take a look at how the 12-team College Football Playoff would have looked this season. As for Penn State, the Nittany Lions would have been locked in a rematch against one of the teams it lost to in the first round.
Here is what the 12-team College Football Playoff would have looked like this season if it was in play.
First-round byes
The top four conference champions will receive a bye in the first round of the 12-team playoff starting in 2024. So the four teams playing in this year;’s final four-team playoff would be getting extra time off before playing a down in the playoff.
Michigan would be the top seed, followed by Washington, Texas, and Alabama. All four teams won their respective conferences (Big Ten, Pac-12, Big 12, and SEC, respectively) and would await their next opponent in the second round.
No. 8 Oregon vs. No. 9 Missouri
Let’s start with the 8-9 matchup. Oregon would host Missouri in Autzen Stadium for the opportunity to play Michigan in the second round of the expanded playoff. Plenty of points may have been scored in this matchup and a playoff game in Eugene is going to be awesome to see.
No. 5 Florida State vs. No. 12 Liberty
Two undefeated teams would be going head-to-head in Tallahassee in this first-round matchup. The highest-ranked Group of 5 conference champion will continue to grab an automatic spot in the 12-team College Football Playoff, which would go to Liberty this year for the 12th and final seed in the field. Florida State, ironically perhaps, would be hoping to avoid an upset and get a crack at no. 4 Alabama in the next round.
No. 6 Georgia vs. No. 11 Ole Miss
The other two games in the expanded College Football Playoff would be a pair of rematches from conference play. The first would send Ole Miss to Georgia to face the Bulldogs with a chance to play no. 3 Texas in the next round. Georgia won the regular season meeting between the two teams this season.
No. 7 Ohio State vs. No. 10 Penn State
The last game in our first round would send Penn State back to Columbus to face Ohio State. Penn State’s season came to a screeching halt this season in Ohio Stadium as the offense blew a couple of tires against the Buckeye defense. The winner of this game would take on Washington in the next round.
