By the looks of it, a 12 Team Playoff is the preferred format for expanding the College Football Playoff. Currently it appears that the top twelve teams ranked by the playoff committee would make it into the playoff. This sounds good in theory but also raises further questions.
What if the Champion of a Power-Five Conference isn’t ranked in the top 12? Oregon won the Pac-12 Championship in 2020 but wasn’t ranked within the top 15, let alone the top 12. Yes, the 2020 season was a mess for so many reasons and this is unlikely to happen in the future but it is still conceivable for a two or even three loss team to win their conference. Should that team be allowed into the playoff?
How many spots will be given to the SEC? The SEC and the self-fulfilling prophecy has been a problem for decades. This is when SEC teams are highly ranked because they are in the SEC and they maintain or rise in the rankings for playing other ranked SEC teams. During the 2020 season the SEC played a conference only slate, this taught us that the SEC isn’t as strong as the pundits make them out to be. However, is this going to stop the SEC from taking up three or four playoff berths?
A 12 team playoff would be better than the four team invitation we are currently stuck with. However, what would be the best and most fair way to allocate those twelve spots to create a real and meaningful playoff?
David Marsh
Portland, Oregon
Top Photo By: John Giustina
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David Marsh is a high school social studies teacher in Portland, Oregon. As a teacher he is known for telling puns to his students who sometimes laugh out of sympathy, and being both eccentric about history and the Ducks.
David graduated from the University of Oregon in 2012 with Majors in: Medieval Studies, Religious Studies, and Geography. David began following Ducks Football after being in a car accident in 2012; finding football something new and exciting to learn about during this difficult time in his life. Now, he cannot see life without Oregon football.
