College Football Playoff 2015: Simulated eight-team bracket

College Football Playoff 2015: How would an eight-team format play out?

By John Buhler | Dec 6, 2015

Nov 28, 2015; Stillwater, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) and quarterback Trevor Knight (9) and quarterback Cody Thomas (14) celebrate after defeating Oklahoma State Cowboys at Boone Pickens Stadium. Oklahoma won 58-23. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports /

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Jan 1, 2015; New Orleans, LA, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes running back Ezekiel Elliott (15) pulls away from Alabama Crimson Tide defensive back Nick Perry (27) and defensive back Cyrus Jones (5)enroute to a 85-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter of the 2015 Sugar Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Crystal LoGiudice-USA TODAY Sports /

No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide vs. No. 7 Ohio State Buckeyes (Sugar Bowl)

Last season, the No. 4 Ohio State Buckeyes upset the No. 1 team in the nation in the Alabama Crimson Tide by winning the Allstate Sugar Bowl, 42-35. Ohio State used that momentum to catapult themselves to a blowout victory over the Oregon Ducks in the inaugural College Football Playoff National Championship Game inside AT&T Stadium in Dallas, 42-20.

While Nick Saban seems to always have his team ready, he has lost all three Sugar Bowls he’s coached the Crimson Tide in since leaving LSU in 2004 (2008, 2013-14). Is Nick Saban dealing with some sort of voodoo since leaving the NFL to take over LSU’s rival, Alabama, in 2007?

Regardless of if Saban would want to play in the Sugar Bowl, proximity would put the Crimson Tide up against the Buckeyes in a rematch of last year’s contest at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

Saban and Urban Meyer are widely considered the two best head coaches in college football and this hypothetical rematch would make for outstanding television. Where else would the two best minds in the sport meet up in a National Quarterfinals in the same location as the year before?

With the way that Ohio State lost to Michigan State on a game-winning field goal in Columbus, Meyer, running Ezekiel Elliott, and the rest of the Buckeyes would come out invigorated to take down the Tide again in New Orleans.

Though freshman wide receiver Calvin Ridley and Heisman-contending running back Derrick Henry will provide enough offensive firepower for Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin, Ohio State has played better opponents in the Big Ten this year than Alabama has in the SEC. That will matter in this game, as Ohio State knocks off Alabama by one score to win back-to-back Sugar Bowl over the Crimson Tide.

Since Ohio State is the seventh seed in this exercise, they will have to let their opponent pick the location of their neutral site National Semifinal. Ohio State would await the winner of the three/six matchup to decide their next venue of the College Football Playoff.

Prediction: Ohio State Buckeyes 42, Alabama Crimson Tide 35 (same score, why not?)

Next: No. 3 Michigan State vs. No. 6 Stanford

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