Only 1 college football team would have made CFP playoff each year in 12-team format

Jan 13, 2020; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Detailed view of the 2020 College Football Playoff National Championship logo at midfield at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The College Football Playoff Board of Managers voted to approve expanding to a 12-team playoff on Friday. Expectations are that the change will be enacted by at least 2026.

The new playoff format will involve the six highest-ranked conference champions and six at-large bids. And while there are other issues that need to be ironed out, most view this as a positive step for college football. Even if the driving factor was money.

Interestingly, under this new format, only one team would have made the College Football Playoff each year since its inception in 2014. And no, it wouldn’t have been the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Rather, it would have been the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Ohio State is the only team in college football that would have made the CFP every single year since 2014 if it were at 12 from the beginning. I have no idea how the Buckeyes could ever miss the Playoff again.

— Ari Wasserman (@AriWasserman) September 2, 2022

Alabama would have been on the outside looking in following the 2019 season. They were ranked No. 13 that year, although it’s plausible the committee would have done everything in their power to get them in — likely over Utah. After all, TV ratings (and the aforementioned money) matter.

Over that same span, Ohio State ranked no lower than No. 7 in the projected CFP committee rankings.