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The big news of the week in college football has been the idea of expanding the Playoff format from four teams to 12. While nothing has been etched in stone, Yahoo’s Pete Thamel reported that a 12-team field is the leading option right now.
It’s still way too early to make any projections for a four-team field, but Pro Football Focus recently released its projections for the Top 12 teams in the 2021 season. The rankings provide a basic look at which teams could be included in the expanded College Football Playoff field, if it expanded to 12 teams.
Based on PFF’s rankings, two B1G teams — Ohio State and Iowa — would be in the 12-team field. There would also be five SEC teams, two from the ACC, and one Big 12, Independent and Group of 5 program. Here’s what it looks like:
- Alabama Crimson Tide
- Clemson Tigers
- Ohio State Buckeyes
- Georgia Bulldogs
- Oklahoma Sooners
- Texas A&M Aggies
- Florida Gators
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish
- Iowa Hawkeyes
- LSU Tigers
- North Carolina Tar Heels
- Cincinnati Bearcats
Who PFF projects to be the top-12 teams in 2021:
1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Ohio State
4. Georgia
5. Oklahoma
6. Texas A&M
7. Florida
8. Notre Dame
9. Iowa
10. LSU
11. North Carolina
12. Cincinnati pic.twitter.com/s5kzVYI7lA— PFF College (@PFF_College) June 9, 2021
That looks like a pretty fun 12-team field.
If changes are made to the College Football Playoff format, it likely won’t come for at least a few years. Still, it’s fun to project and imagine what that kind of field would look like in 2021.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB