How the 12-team College Football Playoff picture would look with the final 2023 rankings

If College Football Playoff expansion happened this year, here’s what the picture would look like.

For fans furious about how the final College Football Playoff picture turned out Sunday when ESPN announced No. 1 Michigan, No. 2 Washington, No. 3 Texas and No. 4 Alabama will compete for a national championship this year, perhaps there’s some comfort in knowing this is the last year we’ll be debating which four teams should be in.

Next season, the College Football Playoff format will expand from four to 12 teams, meaning debates over things like the No. 4 and Nos. 5 and 6 teams will be largely nonexistent. Of course, there will still be arguments over the rankings and which teams get first-round byes and where games should be played and on and on.

Now, that’s not much of a consolation prize for fans who are mad their teams missed out on a shot at a national championship this season, but things are changing.

So after Michigan, Washington, Texas and Alabama were announced in the latest College Football Playoff rankings, here’s a look at how the 12-team playoff format would stack up if expansion happened this season.

The current playoff teams outside of this hypothetical picture — Michigan, Washington, Texas and Alabama — would all get first-round byes. Beyond that, we’d get in the first round:

  • No. 8 Oregon vs. No. 9 Missouri
  • No. 5 Florida State vs. No. 12 Liberty
  • No. 6 Georgia vs. No. 11 Ole Miss
  • No. 7 Ohio State vs. No. 10 Penn State

Per the College Football Playoff, here’s how the 12 teams will be selected next season:

The field of 12 teams will be comprised of the six conference champions ranked highest by the selection committee (no minimum ranking requirement), plus the six highest-ranked other teams. The ranking of the teams will continue to be done by a selection committee whose size, composition, and method of selection will remain substantially unchanged from the current arrangement. The four highest-ranked conference champions will be seeded one through four and each will receive a first-round bye. The other eight teams will play in the first round with the higher seeds hosting the lower seeds either on campus or at other sites designated by the higher-seeded institution.

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