Change is coming to the College Football Playoff in a big way next season. The postseason tournament will grow from four teams to 12. As of now, the 12 teams in the bracket will include the six highest-rated conference champions, according to the CFP Rankings, and the next six highest-ranked programs. The top four conference champions will get byes into the quarterfinals. Should fewer than six conferences be represented, I will project however many are needed to get to six.
There is a legitimate chance that format will be adjusted to account for the demise of the Pac-12. That could result in something as simple as guaranteeing playoff spots for only the top five conference champions (with seven at-large bids) or something more drastic, such as doing away with automatic qualifiers entirely.
The College Football Playoff selection committee finally made a change at the top of the rankings this week as Georgia jumped Ohio State for the No. 1 spot. Still ranked ahead of Michigan, the Buckeyes are considered the Big Ten champions for this exercise.
There were also some notable changes in the bottom half of the top 12 this week. Missouri moved up to No. 9, while Oregon State is up to No. 11. Ole Miss and Penn State, meanwhile, fall out of this projection for the first time this season. No. 24 Tulane remains the highest-ranked Group of Five team in this week's CFP rankings. In fact, the Green Wave are the only Group of Five team represented.
Let's take a look at how the 12-team playoff would look after the third CFP Rankings release of the 2023 season.
(9) Missouri at (8) Alabama
Winner advances to play (1) Ohio State*
(12) Tulane* at (5) Michigan
Winner advances to play (4) Washington*
(11) Oregon State at (6) Oregon*
Winner advances to play (3) Florida State*
(10) Louisville at (7) Texas
Winner advances to play (2) Georgia*
* Projected conference champion
