big 12 conference championship scenarios

Our final spot is probably going to 10-2 Mississippi State.

Our “top” Group of 5 champ is an 11-2 Boise State that lost by 22 to Ole Miss. This format would add a whole round of games before the semifinal/final setup we have now.Ī recent scenario that breaks it: In 2014, our automatic bids are going to Alabama, Oregon, FSU, Ohio State, and either Baylor or TCU (whichever doesn’t get the Big 12’s champion slot, we’ll assign one of the at-large bids). The structure: Every Power 5 winner gets a spot, as does the top Group of 5 champ, and two at-large bids round things out. Every outcome will leave large segments of fans insisting the system is biased and broken and must change immediately. Four are from the SEC, including a Georgia that beat Florida and gave Bama a tough test in the conference title game and the Texas A&M that gave Bama its only loss all year.ĭon’t want a third SEC team? Well, now you have to choose between Oklahoma (lost to Notre Dame and Kansas State), FSU (the ACC champion), Stanford (the Pac-12 champion), Clemson (OK, yeah, you’re probably not picking them), or the Big East’s Louisville (same). You can take five teams (Notre Dame, Alabama, Florida, Oregon, and Kansas State) and account for every Power 5 team that has one or zero losses.īut then you gotta pick a sixth participant, and there are NINE teams from BCS leagues that finished with two losses. The structure: Take the current four-team structure, add two more teams to it, and otherwise play it in the Six Teams format.Ī recent scenario that breaks it: This starts pretty easily in 2012. SIX TEAMS, CHAMPIONS NOT GUARANTEED SPOTS that has teams with TWO losses making it in ahead of UCF. So now the undefeated Group of 5 darlings are looking at a bigger playoff. You already know Alabama’s getting the sixth spot, even without making the SEC title game. Our guaranteed participants are Clemson, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Georgia, and USC. The bottom four teams play each other in the first round, and the winners advance to play the #1 and 2 teams.Ī recent scenario that breaks it: Travel all the way back to 2017. The structure: Every Power 5 conference champ automatically gets in, and one at-large bid completes the pool. Have fun! SIX TEAMS, POWER CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS GUARANTEED SPOTS Two-loss Stanford, Pac-12 Championship winner (with both losses close and on the road).One-loss Ohio State (undefeated until falling to Michigan State in the Big Ten Championship).One-loss Alabama (lost to Auburn and missed the SEC title game).One-loss Baylor, winner of the Big 12 (but didn’t play a conference title game).Auburn and Michigan State join as one-loss champions of the SEC and Big Ten. Florida State gets in as an undefeated Power 5 conference champ. The structure: The four best teams play semifinal games, and the winners advance to play for the national title.Ī recent scenario that breaks it: Let’s take 2013, the last year of the BCS. The structure: The two best teams play each other for the national title.Ī recent scenario that breaks it: 2018, when you’d have to leave out an undefeated power -Alabama, Clemson, or Notre Dame - and be doomed to endless debates about strength of schedule and conference championships and Two Of You Got To Play Pitt.

Here are 11 playoff models and real-life examples of how they will inevitably lead us back to complaining that they’re not working. Well, I’m here with bad news: it’s impossible. You might argue the first round of the NBA playoffs should go back to best of five, but no one’s furious enough to rally against the NFL about the #7 seed in the NFC being left out.Ĭollege football fans just want a playoff that rewards the most deserving teams and won’t leave us constantly fighting about who deserved a spot! How hard can that be? It’s not like this in other sports, at least not to this extent. This is the third decade in which FBS football’s had a formal championship structure with at least two teams, and for every season in those decades, we as college football fans have worked ourselves into a frenzy about how unfair or broken or ridiculous that structure is.

Big 12 conference championship scenarios