What A Hypothetical 8-Team College Football Playoff Would Look Like Right Now
Below, we take a look at what an 8-team playoff might look like this season if things continue the way they are going now. To determine the field for an 8-team playoff, we projected the champions of the five major BCS conferences and then selected three at-large teams.
Here are the eight teams and how they would be seeded (record, AP Poll rank, and Coaches Poll rank in parentheses):
- Alabama (4-0; 1; 1) - SEC Champion
- Oregon (4-0; 2; 2) -Pac-12 Champion
- Clemson (4-0; 3; 4) -ACC Champion
- Stanford (4-0; 5; 5) - At-Large
- Ohio State (5-0; 4; 3) -Big Ten Champion
- Georgia (3-1; 6; 6) -At-Large
- Florida State (4-0; 8; 8) -At-Large
- Oklahoma (4-0; 11; 10) - Big 12 Champion
The best teams that would be left on the outside looking in would be Louisville (#7 in AP poll, #7 in Coaches Poll), and Texas A&M (#9, #9). But at this point, the BCS computer polls that are currently available* collectively like Florida State much better than either of those teams and the BCS ranking will likely have Florida State ahead of those teams when it is unveiled for the first time.
And here is what the bracket might look like. Just imagine a Saturday with four football games featuring match-ups of top-10 teams playing for more than just a random bowl's trophy. It would potentially be even bigger than the championship game a month later...
* Four of the six BCS computer rankings are currently available. They are: Richard Billingsley, Colley Matrix, Kenneth Massey, and Jeff Sagarin of USA Today.