champions so it won't be dominated by any one conference any more than the current format. There are only six at large spots. The top four conference champs get a bye, not the top four teams. Home playoff games??? Can you imagine the intensity and pageantry? Not saying it will happen soon but Lane hosting a freaking playoff game?!?! This will happen for multiple teams a year and will electrify those fan bases. Honestly, I almost would rather Tech host a playoff game than get a first-round bye. Oh and since the top six ranked conference champions auto-qualify then each of the conference championship games are essentially playoff games for the lower ranked teams. That's even MORE meaningful games. Here is how it would look this year: Byes These are awarded to the four highest-ranked conference champions. 1. Georgia 2. Michigan 3. Clemson 4. Utah Rest of field 5. TCU 6. Ohio State 7. Alabama 8. Tennessee 9. Kansas State 10. USC 11. Penn State 12. Tulane College Football Playoff First round Game 1: (9) Kansas State at (8) Tennessee Game 2: (12) Tulane at (5) TCU Game 3: (10) USC at (7) Alabama Game 4: (11) Penn State at (6) Ohio State Quarterfinals Game 5: (1) Georgia vs. Game 1 winner Game 6: (4) Utah vs. Game 2 winner Game 7: (2) Michigan vs. Game 3 winner Game 8: (3) Clemson vs. Game 4 winner If you go back to 2015 and had a 12 team playoff the distribution of teams per conference would look like this: Big Ten: 23 SEC: 22 Big 12: 15 ACC: 13 Pac-12: 12 AAC: 6 Independent: 3* M-West: 1 MAC: 1 Sun Belt: 1 Big Ten: Ohio State (8), Penn State (4), Wisconsin (3), Michigan (3), Michigan State (3), Iowa (1), Indiana (1) SEC: Alabama (7), Georgia (5), Florida (3), LSU (2), Auburn (1), Ole Miss (2), Texas A&M (1), Mississippi State (1) ACC: Clemson (6), Florida State (3), North Carolina (1), Miami (1), Pittsburgh Notre Dame (1)* Big 12: Oklahoma (6), TCU (2), Baylor (3), Kansas State (1), Iowa State (1), Oklahoma State (1) Pac-12: Washington (3), USC (2),Utah (2), Oregon (2), Arizona (1), Stanford (1), Colorado (1), AAC: UCF (2), Cincinnati (2), Memphis (1), Houston (1) Independent: Notre Dame (3) Mountain West: Boise State (1) MAC: Western Michigan (1) Sun Belt: Coastal Carolina (1) BTW, Bowl games are only meaningless if we the fans deem them to be meaningless. I went the Gator bowl this year with my son who goes to USC. It was packed with gamecock fans and everyone was really into the game. It was FAR from meaningless to those fans. The opts outs are frustrating but I imagine there is something happening soon that will change some of that. Citing my source: ** Edited by ColumbusHokie at 1/2/2023, 2:13:32 PM