2016 College Football Playoff

In case you missed it last year, here is a summary of my college football playoff bracket. Here is the original version in a little more detail. But basically it goes like this, all conference champions get an automatic bid, and the rest of the field is filled in and then ranked by a selection committee similar to the one we have today. First couple of rounds are played on campus at higher seeds, and semifinals/finals are in bowls just as they are now.

Conference Champions

First things first, let’s look at who is getting the automatic bids into our tournament.

At Large Spots

So we’ve got 10 conference champions that leaves us 2 or 4 at large spots, depending on the playoff format.

Previously I’ve picked the at large teams myself, but in reality the playoff would have selection committee just like our current one. So I’ll just use their rankings to determine our at large teams.

1. Ohio State
2. Michigan
3. Wisconsin
4. Southern Cal
5. Colorado
6. Florida State

So in the 12 team playoff, Ohio State and Michigan get in as at large teams. And in the 14 team playoff, Wisconsin and Southern Cal sneak in with Colorado and Florida State left on the outside looking in.

Ranking the Field

So that gives us our field of 12 to 16 teams. Let’s rank all 16 top to bottom. I’m just going to use the CFP rankings here and make determinations for bottom teams on my own.

The Brackets

Summary

Like last year, I still think I prefer the 12 team playoff. The bar for making it in as an at large team should be very high. Having a pair like Ohio State and Michigan is fantastic.