Ariona State head coach Kenny Dillingham, left, and quarterback Sam Leavitt, right, celebrate after the team's win in the Big 12 Conference championship NCAA college football game against Iowa State, in Arlington, Texas, Saturday Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
The committee that chose the 12 contenders for college football’s national title was only worried about one thing — ranking the teams.
Where those teams landed in the College Football Playoff bracket was based on a formula created by conference commissioners. That jumbled up the pairings — there are some big gaps, for instance, between where a team is seeded and where it’s ranked — and made a strong case for tinkering in the future.
“I think the process to rank the best 25 teams is a great process,” said selection committee chairman Warde Manuel. “I’ve heard debates and discussions about how the seeding of the tournament should go. I will leave that up to the commissioners.”
Among the choices the commissioners made months ago that set the template for the bracket released Sunday:
— Favoring conference champions by giving four of them byes and one more an automatic spot in the field, no matter where they were ranked in the CFP’s top 25.
— Not reseeding the bracket after the first round, a move that could have given the best teams more favorable early matchups.
— Making no attempt to avoid regular-season rematches early in the playoffs.
There was also the issue of the 12-team bracket, which could very well be expanded in the next year or two.
All those choices led to a field full of possibilities, but also one containing head-scratching matchups. The choices could, in some eyes, undermine the College Football Playoff’s main mission, which is ( making more money while) providing more “access” — in other words, a fair shake to more than four deserving teams.
For instance, top-seeded and undefeated Oregon could play its first game against Big Ten foe Ohio State, which was ranked No. 2 for much of the season and lost to the Ducks by a point earlier this year.
And Boise State, from the non-power Mountain West Conference, is the third seed, even though the committee ranked the Broncos ninth.
Here is how things might have looked if certain rules that could come into play in the future were already in place:
What if the committee gave no preference to conference champions?
First things first — there’s not a single tweak that would’ve placed Oregon at anything other than the No. 1 seed. The Ducks are the only undefeated team in major college football and winning a title this year would leave them a jaw-dropping 16-0.
Had the rules called for simply slotting in the top 12 teams, though, Alabama would be in the bracket and Oregon’s path would be wildly different. A look at the coulda-been matchups:
— No. 12 Arizona State at No. 5 Notre Dame: Big 12 champs would’ve made it because they rose three spots after that big win over Iowa State.
— No. 11 Alabama at No. 6 Ohio State: Without automatic berths for conference champions, Tide would have been in, not at the ReliaQuest Bowl against a 7-5 Michigan team.
— No. 10 SMU at No. 7 Tennessee: Mustangs could’ve slept soundly despite that heartbreaking loss to Clemson. And the Vols would have had a home game instead of a trip to Ohio State.
— No. 9 Boise State at No. 8 Indiana: Hoosiers would’ve gotten the home game their coach thought they deserved, with the winner facing the Ducks.
The third and fourth byes would have gone to Texas and Penn State, both losers in their conference title games — a turn that would have furthered questions as to whether those games have outlived their usefulness.
What if the committee believed in reseeding or in avoiding early rematches?
As things stand, Oregon will face either Ohio State or Tennessee at the Rose Bowl in the quarterfinals. Reseeding or avoiding regular-season matchups in the early rounds would likely have given the Ducks an easier game to start.
Under a reseeding scenario, the Ohio State matchup could only happen if every home team — Texas, Penn State, Notre Dame and the Buckeyes — were to win its first-round game.
This tweak also would prevent this year’s possibility of Clemson vs. Arizona State in the quarterfinals — two teams that weren’t in the top 12 a week ago. Or the prospect of two bye teams — ASU and Boise State — being big underdogs against teams, think Texas or Penn State, that have to win a game to play them.
What if the committee had gone to 14 teams instead of 12?
This one is a loaded question, because when the playoffs expand they will do so with different rules.
One formula kicking around involves giving three automatic spots to the Big Ten and SEC, two to the ACC and Big 12, one to the best-ranked champion of a Group of Five conference and three at-large spots.
This, too, would cause problems and shuffling and teams getting passed over. But where it really breaks down is that 18th-ranked Iowa State of the Big 12 would land in this bracket as the 14 seed despite losing to Arizona State by 26.
Hard to see that going over well at Miami, or Ole Miss, or Colorado.
Then again, nobody ever said this was going to be fair.
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By EDDIE PELLS
AP National Writer
