Here’s how a 12-team College Football Playoff could look in 2020

Pat Forde went on a journey to give us a 12-team College Football Playoff.

We need to give Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde a serious tip of the hat today for his realignment and vision of a 12-team playoff.

The esteemed sports journalist went places none of us thought a human could go in a way to gives parity through realignment in FBS college football. The Forde Bowl Subdivision realignment plan is undeniably and utterly fascinating. He gave us 10 12-team conferences that maximize proximity, lower travel costs and allow many key rivalries to carry on.

Once you got yourself acquainted with conferences in the new college athletics landscape such as the Deep South (Florida State, Georgia, UFC, etc.), the Great Midwest (Iowa State, Nebraska, Western Michigan, etc.) and the Yankee Conferences (Army, Penn State, Temple, etc.), you then immediately jump to the only idea that matters: Who’s making the College Football Playoff?

Under the Forde Bowl Subdivision realignment plan, every team in these 10 new 12-team conferences will play every conference member in a round-robin, as well as one non-conference rival team. For example, Georgia would still play Auburn, even though the Dawgs play in the Deep South, while the Tigers play in the new Sun Belt.

Like college basketball, the winner of each conference earns a bid into the postseason. Though there won’t be a conference championship game, it in a way levels the playing field to allow all 120 teams at this level the opportunity to play for and win a national championship. Two other teams will be picked as at large participants. Seeds No. 1 through No. 4 would have a first-round bye.

Who makes the 12-team College Football Playoff under Pat Forde’s format?

Thankfully, Forde did the lord’s work for all of us so we don’t have to. He picked the winner of all 10 of his Forde Bowl Subdivision conferences, as well as two at-large College Football Playoff participants, seeded the dozen and projected it all out for us. Prepare to have your mind blown if it hasn’t been already.

• No. 1 Clemson, champion of the Mid-Atlantic Conference.
• No. 2 Alabama, champion of the Sun Belt Conference.
• No. 3 Ohio State, champion of the Great Mideast Conference.
• No. 4 Georgia, champion of the Deep South Conference.
• No. 5 Penn State, champion of the Yankee Conference.
• No. 6 Oklahoma, champion of the Southwest Conference.
• No. 7 USC, champion of the West Coast Conference.
• No. 8 Florida, at-large selection from the Deep South Conference.
• No. 9 Notre Dame, champion of the Mid-American Conference.
• No. 10 Texas A&M, at-large selection from the Southwest Conference.
• No. 11 Minnesota, champion of the Great Midwest Conference.
• No. 12 Boise State, champion of the Rocky Mountain Conference.

In the first round, Forde has No. 8 Florida defeating No. 9 Notre Dame, No. 5 Penn State beating No. 12 Boise State, No. 7 USC knocking off No. 10 Texas A&M and No. 6 Oklahoma victorious over No. 11 Minnesota. As you can see, he went all chalk in the first round and then did the same in the other rounds for the sake of explaining the exercise with as little as confusion as possible.

In the second round, Forde has No. 1 Clemson defeating No. 8 Florida, No. 2 Alabama knocked off No. 7 USC, No. 3 Ohio State upending No. 6 Oklahoma and No. 4 Georgia getting the best of No. 5 Penn State. Now, we have arrived at what the current College Football Playoff looks like under the four-team format: No. 1 Clemson vs. No. 4 Georgia and No. 2 Alabama vs. No. 3 Ohio State.

And you guessed right, as No. 1 Clemson will play No. 2 Alabama for yet another national championship. Why is it always these two teams? Well, because they’re better than everyone else more consistently. Dabo Swinney and his Clemson Tigers defeat Nick Saban and his Alabama Crimson Tide to win the 2021 College Football Playoff under the Forde Bowl Subdivision system.

It’s never happening, but man, this 12-team playoff set up and realignment is incredible stuff.

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