Forde's Realignment 12-Team Playoff Field Looks Familiar
Earlier this week, Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde published his realignment article where he took every D-I football-playing school and placed them into ten conferences with 12 teams in each league.
Now he ha released his 12 team playoff brackets for the 2020 season under the Forde Bowl Subdivision Realignment Plan, and while gone are the SEC, Big-10, Big-12, ACC, and Pac-12, the teams who made this field aren't much different than the usual cast of characters seen hanging around the playoffs recently.
As one might expect, Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State, and Georgia are the top four seeds, each receiving first-round byes, while Notre Dame and Oklahoma are also in the field.
Florida enjoys a resurgence into the fray along with USC, and Penn State, while relative newcomers Texas A&M, Boise State, and Minnesota make their first appearance in some time.
Here's how the playoff would work according to Forde.
"The best and biggest playoff ever would start with Selection Sunday, Nov. 29. A 12-team bracket would be revealed—10 automatic bids to conference champions, two at-large teams chosen by a selection committee, the whole thing seeded by said committee.
That would lead to four mammoth, on-campus playoff games on December 4–5. Then four more on different campuses the next weekend. Teams from every geographic region would be involved. Fans from coast to coast would be engaged.
From there, the playoff reverts to customary form: semifinals on New Year’s Day at bowl locations, and a national championship game in early January."
Of course, this whole realignment and bracket is fictional, designed to create fan interaction and talk during a time when we have no college sports, and while still wondering if we will at any point this year.
Some fans might find this whole thing absurd, and perhaps it is to some degree, but forget logic and jump in, enjoy the thoughts and have some fun.
For fans of Vanderbilt, perhaps next season, we get the Commodores into this discussion, but for the time being, this will have to suffice.
Who do you think would come out on top in this 12-team playoff-which would be some fun football to me anyway- if this field were to be paired up and play for a championship?
Forde's 12-Team Bowl Subdivision Bracket
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