How would a 12-team College Football Playoff look through the years?

NCAA is finally considering the right decision to expand the playoff system, but how would it have impacted past seasons of chaos?

The NCAA announced that a 12-team College Football Playoff is being considered. There’s a lot of excitement surrounding the possible announcement, which would allow the six best conference champs in the Playoff, and then six at-large teams. This expands the championship possibilities, obviously, but it also has us wondering which past seasons would have had the best matchups.

Last year, the four best teams seemed to make the College Football Playoff. This current format would have had matchups like Coastal Carolina taking on Notre Dame in the first round. Brett McMurphy looked at how all of the matchups for the 2020 Playoff would look, and it isn’t that impressive.

Nobody was really expecting Indiana or Iowa State to win the National Championship. Although, last season was strange. There were all the opt-outs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the transfer rules made things a little odd, and it was a transition year after LSU dominated the country. In previous years, there are some very intriguing matchups.

What are some of the best possibilities for a 12-team College Football Playoff in past seasons?

When it comes to the College Football Playoff years, which started back in 2015, it’s hard to argue with the talent that was the 2017 college football season. That year, the Playoff was Clemson, Oklahoma, Georgia, and Alabama. There was no undefeated team in the Playoff. However, there was a 12-0 UCF that was on the outside looking in. This current format would give a bye to the top four conference champions, so we’d have Alabama playing on the first weekend. Under these rules, it would be Alabama and UCF in the first round. That’s an awesome matchup right off the bat.

It would also see Penn State take on USC in the first round. If you remember, they faced off in the Rose Bowl the season prior with a final score of 52-49. That was one of the greatest offensive performances we’ve seen this decade. This would be a rematch of that game, and everyone should be on board with that. A one-loss Wisconsin team would get a chance to prove itself against another Pac-12 team in Washington. The best of the Turnover Chain Miami Hurricanes would round out the first round against an Auburn team that had three losses, and they all came to teams in the top four. Some great Clemson, Georgia, Ohio State, and Oklahoma teams would be waiting for them in the field of eight.

There aren’t many years where there are 12 teams that could legitimately be in the conversation for the National Championship, but with an undefeated UCF being the 12 seed in 2017, it’s hard to argue with their ability to compete.

Looking at seasons prior to the College Football Playoff, 2011 was an interesting year in the college football landscape. It was honestly a season full of scandal (including the Penn State-Jerry Sandusky crimes, the Ohio State suspensions for autographs, Miami boosters giving very personal gifts to Hurricanes players, and North Carolina firing Butch Davis after improper benefits were given to players). However, on the gridiron, it was easy to forget everything off the field.

Under this 12-team format, the top four teams would be an undefeated LSU team, an Andrew Luck-led Stanford team, possibly the best Oklahoma State team ever, and then Boise State was the next best conference winner, so they’d get a bye. Alabama, which actually ended up winning the National Championship, would be the fifth seed.

The first-round matchups would include a 12th-seeded Clemson avoiding their 70-33 drubbing via West Virginia in the Orange Bowl instead of taking on Alabama, so it would probably look the same. A very good USC team and a very good Wisconsin team that had Russell Wilson and Montee Ball would likely face off. Ball ran for more than 1,900 yards that season, so who knows what he could have done with a National Championship on the line.

An upstart Arkansas team, which only lost to LSU and Alabama, would face Kansas State, who they ended up beating that season in the Cotton Bowl. South Carolina and Oregon would round out the matchups. It’s an awesome field where anything can happen. There’s no gimme on this schedule, and it’s definitely not a given that Alabama comes out on top again.

The other year where this situation would have been marvelous is 2003. This is the year that USC was named National Champion by the AP Poll and LSU was named National Champion by the Coaches Poll. There was no National Title Game here. USC ended up playing Michigan in the Rose Bowl, and many considered it a de facto championship game since USC was the top team in the country. Oklahoma was also one of the top teams, and they played LSU in the Sugar Bowl. Imagine those four teams getting the byes, and the winner of those games actually playing for the National Championship.

First-round matchups include a young Vince Young taking on a veteran Kyle Orton and the Purdue Boilermakers. A very strange Tennessee team would take on a Georgia team that was coming off a loss in the SEC Championship Game to LSU. A deafening Ohio State defense would welcome a Miami team that replaced just about everyone but did its best to keep a pattern of excellence once Ken Dorsey and some defensive stalwarts left for the NFL. Chris Rix would lead Florida State into a matchup with a Darren Sproles-led Kansas State team that was prolific on offense. While this season didn’t have the parity of the previous two, there was a lot of excitement surrounding these matchups, and then the top four would give us a true championship feel that the BCS just didn’t provide.

There are a ton of other examples of seasons with great matchups in a 12-team playoff. 1997 had two undefeated teams in Michigan and Nebraska to end the season, and then there were five other teams with 11 wins. 1988 went into bowl season with West Virginia, Notre Dame, and Miami undefeated. None of those had Barry Sanders on them, who was on the 12th-seeded Oklahoma State. Imagine Barry Sanders with a chance to win a National Championship?

There are a lot of questions surrounding the NCAA’s decision to possibly expand the College Football Playoff, which will likely extend the students’ season even longer. However, the enjoyment factor is undeniable. Getting more games that count means there will be more talented players opting into these games. Looking back at what could have been shows how much fun this playoff likely will be.

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