How would USC fans feel if Trojans were No. 16 seed in 24-team CFP?
If the College Football Playoff expands to 24, USC needs to make sure it gets in at the front end (the top 10), not as a back-end seed from 16-24
USC football might have a better chance of making a 24-team College Football Playoff than the current 12-team field, but would that really make Trojan fans happier? USC would feel like a charity case, not an earner of a significant achievement, if it got into the back end of a very large playoff field. Consider this from ESPN's Bill Connelly: "Based on how the CFP rankings looked the week before Championship Week in 2025 -- remember, conference title games would be eliminated in the 24-team model -- we would have been looking at something like this for a 2025 24-team CFP: 17 Virginia (10-2) at 16 USC (9-3) -- winner plays at 1 Ohio State (12-0) 24 North Texas (11-1) at 9 Alabama (10-2) -- winner plays at 8 Oklahoma (10-2) 21 Houston (9-3) at 12 Miami (10-2) -- winner plays at 5 Oregon (11-1) 20 Tulane (10-2) at 13 Texas (9-3) -- winner plays at 4 Texas Tech (11-1) 22 Georgia Tech (9-3) at 11 BYU (11-1) -- winner plays at 6 Ole Miss (11-1) 19 Michigan (9-3) at 14 Vanderbilt (10-2) -- winner plays at 3 Georgia (11-1) 23 Iowa (8-4) at 10 Notre Dame (10-2) -- winner plays at 7 Texas A&M (11-1) 18 Arizona (9-3) at 15 Utah (10-2) -- winner plays at 2 Indiana (12-0) "With this in mind, let's think about how Rivalry Week would have played out with a 24-team playoff and compare that with what happened with a 12-teamer.
In real life, Michigan needed a miracle upset of Ohio State to have any playoff hope. Instead, the Wolverines lost by 18. With a 24-team CFP, they're comfortably in regardless.
"Alabama had to beat Auburn to keep its place in the CFP field and proceeded to blow a 17-point lead before rallying to win late. Meanwhile, Oklahoma needed to beat LSU to hold on to a berth and trailed with five minutes left before a late score. With a 24-teamer, both teams are comfortably in (and have opening-round home games) regardless.
"Texas and Vanderbilt needed to beat rivals Texas A&M and Tennessee, respectively, and hope for some chaos above them to get into the field. (They won, but they didn't get the chaos. ) With a 24-teamer, they're both in regardless.