College Football Playoff Bracket Catastrophe: What if underdogs shake up the ranking?

If college football rivalry week taught us anything, it's to expect the unexpected. So, all those projected College Football Playoff brackets that have chalk picks in the conference title games are probably going to end up on Freezing Cold Takes.

College football doesn't follow a conventional script. Underdogs make sure of that. So what if the underdogs have their say in the CFP this year?

We might foresee one unexpected result, but what if every result swings in the most unlikely way? What would the College Football Playoff bracket look like if literally everything went wrong for the committee?

College Football Playoff Catastrophe Bracket: What if conference championship games don’t go to plan?

1. Penn State [Big Ten Champion]
2. Georgia [SEC Champion]
3. Iowa State [Big 12 Champion]
4. Clemson [ACC Champion]
5. Oregon
6. Texas
7. Notre Dame
8. Ohio State
9. Tennessee
10. SMU
11. Indiana
12. UNLV [Mountain West Champion]

First Four Out:

• Alabama
• Miami
• Ole Miss
• Boise State

Call it revenge of the underdog, but this bracket would be a bit of a nightmare for the CFP.

Automatic bids for Penn State, Georgia, Iowa State and Clemson make the first round a bit of a mess. Oregon would play UNLV, Texas would host Indiana, Notre Dame would face SMU*. The only expected matchup would involve Ohio State and Tennessee.

Despite the shuffled up bracket, there's still a decent chance we end up with something close to a conventional top 4 in the semifinals. Penn State could beat the winner of Ohio State and Tennessee. Oregon would be favored over UNLV and Clemson. Same with Texas and Indiana and Iowa State. Georgia need only dispatch the winner of Notre Dame SMU.

Then guess what we'd get? Conference championship game rematches between Penn State and Oregon and Texas and Georgia. How fun!

Obviously this bracket embraces complete chaos. It's highly unlikely all of these things happen. Still, one result could cause a conundrum for the committee.

The SMU question is the biggest uncertainty whether we're talking about a catastrophe bracket or something closer to chalk. If Clemson beats the Mustangs in the ACC Championship Game, the committee will need to decide between two-loss SMU and three-loss Alabama.

In some sense, it should be a no-brainer. The committee shouldn't punish SMU for playing an extra game while rewarding Alabama for sitting at home (or Indiana for that matter). The Crimson Tide have three losses. If they wanted to be in, they shouldn't have caved in upsets against Oklahoma and UNLV.