What 12-team college football playoff means, plus auto bid predictions
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Arizona State enters the Big 12 Championship riding a hot streak, with three straight wins, including dominant victories over two ranked teams and a rivalry triumph against Arizona.
This year's College Football Playoff (CFP) will be the year the committee introduces its 12-team playoff format. For the past 10 seasons, the CFP featured four teams that the selection committee picked based on many factors. This year, many of the factors will stand as they have in previous years; however, some teams will get in on what is considered an “auto bid.”
These auto bids will be given to the top five ranked conference winners, seeded one through five. The selection committee will then choose the following seven seeds based on factors such as strength of schedule, quality wins, ability to deal with adversity, etc.
It looks like five auto bids will come from the Power Four conferences and the final from one of the league’s other conferences. The four conferences in the Power Four are the Big 12, the Southeastern Conference (SEC), the Big 10, and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The Mountain West Conference is the most likely conference to receive the fifth and final auto bid.
For the Big 12, the sixteenth-ranked Iowa State Cyclones will take on the twelfth-ranked Arizona State Sun Devils. This is the lowest-ranked game out of the Power Four Conference championship games, with neither team breaching the top 10. Arizona State has looked fantastic recently, with their last three wins coming from two top-25 ranked opponents and a complete domination of Arizona on the road in a rivalry game. Iowa State has gotten back on track with three wins in a row after they lost multiple games in a short span. Arizona State still looks unbeatable and makes a good contender for falling under the auto bid.
The SEC championship looks to be a barn-burner between the number five-ranked Georgia Bulldogs and the number two-ranked Texas Longhorns. These two teams met earlier this year, with Georgia comfortably beating Texas in a 30-15 victory. This meeting looks to be much different, with star player Quinn Ewers returning from an injury at the previous meeting. The Longhorns have not lost a game since losing to Georgia, with numerous wins coming from ranked conference opponents on the road. Georgia still looked solid, however, it is very difficult to beat a team twice in one season. Texas looks to be the one or two seed in the CFP with a win.
The Big 10 also had a powerhouse championship matchup, with third-seeded Penn State Nittany Lions taking on first-seeded Oregon Ducks. Penn State only had one loss in the year from the Ohio State Buckeyes, who were ranked number four at the time they played. Oregon beat Ohio State in a 32-31 scored match earlier in the year. Their matchup against Ohio State was one of three one-score games the Ducks played. Playing in only three one-score games and going undefeated is an amazing feat, and a star like that is one of many reasons to believe Oregon will be the number one overall seed in the CFP.
The final Power Four Conference championship game features the eighth-seeded Southern Methodist University (SMU) Mustangs taking on the eighteenth-seeded Clemson Tigers. Clemson is ice-cold coming into this championship matchup, with two of its three losses coming from last month. SMU is the complete opposite, winning nine straight going into this Saturday. Something just looks off with the Tigers, and SMU has an awesome opportunity to capitalize on their opponent's possible lack of confidence.
The previously mentioned Mountain West conference will almost certainly take the final auto bid, no matter the outcome. The nineteenth-ranked University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Rebels will take on the tenth-ranked Boise State Broncos. Boise State has been an awesome Cinderella story team to watch. The Broncos have won 10 straight games after losing to Oregon by three points earlier in the year. Boise State has also already beaten UNLV this season in a 29-24 victory. Even if UNLV won this game, the Broncos would still likely get the final auto bid due to the magnitude of a top-10 win. It would take a stellar performance from Tulane in their conference championship game to get the final auto bid.
The 12-team CFP format has brought a much-needed new life to college football. With hundreds of Division-One football teams, it was unfortunate that only four teams competed for the National Championship. Conference championships now mean more than ever with the new auto bid system. It will certainly be an exhilarating weekend to see which teams guarantee themselves a spot in the first-ever 12-team CFP.