What would a 12-team playoff look like?

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Here’s what this season’s 12-team college football playoff bracket would have looked like.

With the four-team stadium set for this holiday season, we’re all wondering what the College Football Playoff bracket would have looked like had that method been in use for the 2022 college season.

To set the stage, the consensus on what this particular format will be is 12 teams featuring the top six conference champions, plus an additional six at-large bids. The four highest-ranked conference champions will advance to the first round of the National Quarterfinals, all of which will be held at the following neutral sites: the Cotton, Orange, Rose, and Sugar Bowls.

It would have been exponentially more crazy this year, since two of the four participating teams (TCU and Ohio State) didn’t win their respective conference championships…

What will the 12-team college football playoff bracket look like in 2022

If the 12-team format were implemented for the 2022 college season, here’s exactly what the College Football Playoff bracket would have looked like.

  1. Georgia Bulldogs (SEC Champion): Bye
  2. Michigan Wolverines (Big Ten Champion): Bye
  3. Clemson Tigers (ACC Champion): Bye
  4. Utah Uts (Pac-12 Champion): Bye
  5. TCU Horned Frogs vs. No. 12 Tulane Green Wave (AAC Champion)
  6. Ohio State Buckeyes vs. No. 11 Penn State Nittany Lions
  7. Alabama Crimson Tide vs. No. 10 USC Trojans
  8. Tennessee Volunteers vs. #9 Kansas State Wildcats (Big 12 champions)

The four teams to receive a bye will be SEC champion Georgia, Big Ten champion Michigan, ACC champion Clemson, and Pac-12 champion Utah. This would have been highly controversial, as the No. 3 seed in this format was ranked No. 7 And the The No. 4 seed was seeded 8th. Rules are rules, but you can clearly see how chaos can greatly affect this particular 12-team format.

While everything is great this time around, the really cool part about expanding the stadium from four teams to 12 is that it will allow us to see four first-round games played on campus. Weather permitting (in the case of the Buckeyes mostly here), TCU, Ohio State, Alabama, and Tennessee will all host playoff games at home in their hallowed cathedrals of college football.

Here’s what the four first-round matches would look like if they were played out this season.

  • No. 12 Tulane Green Wave at No. 5 TCU Horned Frogs (Fort Worth, TX)
  • No. 11 Penn State Nittany Lions at No. 6 Ohio State Buckeyes (Columbus, OH*)
  • No. 10 USC Trojans at No.7 Alabama Crimson Tide (Tuscaloosa, AL)
  • No. 9 Kansas State Wildcats at No. 9 Kansas State Wildcats. 8 Tennessee Volunteers (Knoxville, TN)

* Local teams are allowed to go to the stadium of their choice. In the case of Ohio State, the Buckeyes could theoretically play the Penn State game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis or Ford Field in Detroit to avoid playing a first-round game in the elements. This only applies to teams playing in harsher northern climates, as teams from the south may not have to navigate the extremely cold temperatures.

This is what the National Quarterfinals would have looked like with the correct nomenclature for the bowl.

  • Sugar Bowl (New Orleans, LA): No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs vs. No. 8 Tennessee Volunteers/No. 9 Kansas wild cats
  • Rose Bowl (Pasadena, CA): No. 2 Michigan Wolverines vs. No. 7 Alabama Crimson Tide/No. 10 USC Trojans
  • Orange Bowl (Miami Gardens, FL): No. 3 Clemson Tigers vs. No. 6 Ohio State Buckeyes/No. 11 Penn State Nittany Lions
  • Cotton Bowl (Arlington, TX): No. 4 Utah Utes vs. No. 5 TCU Horned Frogs / No. 12 Tulane Green Wave

Georgia gets the Sugar Bowl, waiting for the winner from Tennessee and Kansas State from Knoxville. Michigan claims the Rose Bowl and will face the winner at Alabama versus the University of Southern California from Tuscaloosa. Clemson earns the Orange Bowl and the winner will face Ohio State versus Penn State from Columbus. Utah gets the Cotton Bowl and will face the winner of TCU vs. Tulane of Fort Worth.

With the Fiesta and Peach Bowls both in this year’s National Semifinals, the team most advanced from the National Quarterfinals will pick the next bowl of their choice. As it was this year, Georgia would have selected the Peach Bowl in the National Semifinals, assuming the Dogs edge out No. 8 Tennessee in a rematch or champion No. 9 Big 12 Kansas State in the Sugar Bowl.

Ultimately, the expanded 12-team format does a lot of good, but it has one serious flaw: What happens when the best team doesn’t win its conference championship? This formula pretty much holds the top 12 right, with the winner of the Group of Five getting the boot, but teams like Clemson and Utah getting their nod in the first round, while TCU having to play in the first round seems so wrong.

Then again, this new format puts a huge incentive to win your conference championship.

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