What a 12-Team College Football Playoff Would Look Like This Year

The first College Football Playoff ranking of the 2023 season was released on Tuesday night, with No. 1 Ohio State coming out as the big winner.

While there is still plenty of action left in the year, the Buckeyes would be joined by No. 2 Georgia, No. 3 Michigan, and No. 4 Florida State in the four-team playoff if the season ended today.

But next year, the first College Football Playoff ranking will carry even more importance, as it will be the first year that the playoff bracket expands to include 12 teams.

Ross Dellenger at Yahoo Sports used the agreed upon criteria for the coming 12-team playoff to build out what the bracket would look like if the new rules came a year early.

The result is fascinating.

Using tonight’s rankings, here’s how a 12-team playoff would look based on the approved 6+6 format.

Format rules:
*6 auto bids to highest ranked conference champs
*6 at-large bids to next highest ranked teams
*top 4 champs get byes
*5-8 seeds host on-campus 1st round games pic.twitter.com/u2oTAdXlBe

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) October 31, 2023

As Dellenger explains, building the bracket is not as simple as taking the top 12 teams as ranked by the playoff committee and slotting them into their spots. Instead, there are rules that assure that the playoff spots and top-four seeds that get a first-round bye are distributed across different conferences.

We still have a year left before the new system comes into play, but if the projected bracket is any indication, next year's playoff is going to be one to remember.