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Examining the 16-Team Playoff Format Through the Lens of the Entire College Football Playoff Era What if the CFP had a 16-team playoff since 2014? Discover how college football's landscape would change & which teams would have the most amount of appearances.
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Format This…. Format That.
The last couple of months of the (off)season has been consumed by nothing but people who have no business deciding the future of how the College Football Playoff should be structured attempting to make those very same decisions.
It wasn’t even long ago that the College Football Playoff was a much simpler existence if not an outright infant concept. After all, the College Football Playoff was first instituted prior to the start of the 2014 season and even then, only existed as a 4-Team Format up until the most recently completed football season.
However, one nugget of curiosity that captured my attention was what would happen if we had a 16 Team Playoff during the entire tenure of the CFP Era? How differently would the overall CFB Landscape be if this format was originally adopted prior to the start of the 2014 Season?
If the 5 Automatic Qualifiers plus 11 At-Large Teams Format is adopted for the 16 Team Playoff, not only did I look into how many CFP Appearances that each team would have, but also how would each team have been seeded for each season based upon the final CFP Poll released at the conclusion of conference championship weekend (11 Season Total).
Total Appearances By Team 10+ Appearances Ohio State – 11 Appearances Alabama – 11 5-8 Appearances Notre Dame – 8 Georgia – 8 3-4 Appearances TCU – 4 Michigan State – 4 2 Appearances Arizona State – 2 Tennessee – 2 1 Appearance Boise State – 1 SMU – 1 2024 CFP Seed Breakdown 1 Seed: Oregon (BTN Champ) 2 Seed: Georgia (SEC Champ) 2023 CFP Seed Breakdown 1 Seed: Michigan (BTN Champ) 2 Seed: Washington (Pac 12 Champ) 2022 CFP Seed Breakdown 1 Seed: Georgia (SEC Champ) 2 Seed: Michigan (BTN Champ) 2021 CFP Seed Breakdown 1 Seed: Alabama (SEC Champ) 2 Seed: Michigan (BTN Champ) 2020 CFP Seed Breakdown 1 Seed: Alabama (SEC Champ) 2 Seed: Clemson (ACC Champ) 2019 CFP Seed Breakdown 1 Seed: LSU (SEC Champ) 2 Seed: Ohio State (BTN Champ) 2018 CFP Seed Breakdown 1 Seed: Alabama (SEC Champ) 2 Seed: Clemson (ACC Champ) 2017 CFP Seed Breakdown 1 Seed: Clemson (ACC Champ) 2 Seed: Oklahoma (B12 Champ) 2016 CFP Seed Breakdown 1 Seed: Alabama (SEC Champ) 2 Seed: Clemson (ACC Champ) 2015 CFP Seed Breakdown 1 Seed: Clemson (ACC Champ) 2 Seed: Alabama (SEC Champ) 2014 CFP Seed Breakdown 1 Seed: Alabama (SEC Champ) 2 Seed: Oregon (Pac 12 Champ)
Clemson – 8
Oklahoma – 8
Oregon – 7
Michigan – 7
Penn State – 6
Ole Miss – 5
Washington – 5
Florida State – 5
Texas – 3
Baylor – 3
Iowa – 3
USC – 3
Auburn – 3
Utah – 3
Wisconsin – 3
Oklahoma State – 3
Indiana – 2
Miami (FL) – 2
BYU – 2
Missouri – 2
Louisville – 2
LSU – 2
Kansas State – 2
Florida – 2
North Carolina – 2
Cincinnati – 2
UCF- 2
West Virginia – 2
Arizona – 2
Northwestern – 2
Stanford – 2
Iowa State – 1
Colorado – 1
South Carolina – 1
Texas A&M – 1
Louisiana – 1
Tulane – 1
Georgia Tech – 1
Pitt – 1
Coastal Carolina – 1
UCLA – 1
Kentucky – 1
Western Michigan – 1
Oregon State – 1
Mississippi State – 1
3 Seed: Texas
4 Seed: Penn State
5 Seed: Notre Dame
6 Seed: Ohio State
7 Seed: Tennessee
8 Seed: Indiana
9 Seed: Boise State (Highest Ranked G5 Champ)
10 Seed: SMU
11 Seed: Alabama
12 Seed: Arizona State (B12 Champ)
13 Seed: Miami
14 Seed: Ole Miss
15 Seed: South Carolina
16 Seed: Clemson (ACC Champ)
3 Seed: Texas (B12 Champ)
4 Seed: Alabama (SEC Champ)
5 Seed: Florida State (ACC Champ)
6 Seed: Georgia
7 Seed: Ohio State
8 Seed: Oregon
9 Seed: Missouri
10 Seed: Penn State
11 Seed: Ole Miss
12 Seed: Oklahoma
13 Seed: LSU
14 Seed: Arizona
15 Seed: Louisville
16 Seed: Notre Dame
3 Seed: TCU
4 Seed: Ohio State
5 Seed: Alabama
6 Seed: Tennessee
7 Seed:Clemson (ACC Champ)
8 Seed: Utah (Pac 12 Champ)
9 Seed: Kansas State (B12 Champ)
10 Seed: USC
11 Seed: Penn State
12 Seed: Washington
13 Seed: Florida State
14 Seed: Oregon State
15 Seed: Oregon
16 Seed: Tulane
3 Seed: Georgia
4 Seed: Cincinnati (Highest Ranked G5 Champ)
5 Seed: Notre Dame
6 Seed: Ohio State
7 Seed: Baylor (B12 Champ)
8 Seed: Ole Miss
9 Seed: Oklahoma State
10 Seed: Michigan State
11 Seed: Utah (Pac 12 Champ)
12 Seed: Pitt
13 Seed: BYU
14 Seed: Oregon
15 Seed: Iowa
16 Seed: Oklahoma
3 Seed: Ohio State (BTN Champ)
4 Seed: Notre Dame
5 Seed: Texas A&M
6 Seed: Cincinnati (Highest Ranked G5 Champ)
7 Seed: Indiana
8 Seed: Oklahoma (B12 Champ)
9 Seed: Coastal Carolina
10 Seed: Florida
11 Seed: Georgia
12 Seed: Iowa State
13 Seed: BYU
14 Seed: North Carolina
15 Seed: Northwestern
16 Seed: Louisiana
3 Seed: Clemson (ACC Champ)
4 Seed: Oklahoma (B12 Champ)
5 Seed: Georgia
6 Seed: Oregon (Pac 12 Champ)
7 Seed: Baylor
8 Seed: Wisconsin
9 Seed: Florida
10 Seed: Penn State
11 Seed: Utah
12 Seed: Auburn
13 Seed: Alabama
14 Seed: Michigan
15 Seed: Notre Dame
16 Seed: Iowa
3 Seed: Notre Dame
4 Seed: Oklahoma (B12 Champ)
5 Seed: Georgia
6 Seed: Ohio State (BTN Champ)
7 Seed: Michigan
8 Seed: UCF (Highest Ranked G5 Champ)
9 Seed: Washington
10 Seed: Florida
11 Seed: LSU
12 Seed: Penn State
13 Seed: Washington State
14 Seed: Kentucky
15 Seed: Texas
16 Seed: West Virginia
3 Seed: Georgia (SEC Champ)
4 Seed: Alabama
5 Seed: Ohio State (BTN Champ)
6 Seed: Wisconsin
7 Seed: Auburn
8 Seed: USC (Pac 12 Champ)
9 Seed: Penn State
10 Seed: Miami
11 Seed: Washington
12 Seed: UCF
13 Seed: Stanford
14 Seed: Notre Dame
15 Seed: TCU
16 Seed: Michigan State
3 Seed: Ohio State
4 Seed: Washington (Pac 12 Champ)
5 Seed: Penn State (BTN Champ)
6 Seed: Michigan
7 Seed: Oklahoma (B12 Champ)
8 Seed: Wisconsin
9 Seed: USC
10 Seed: Colorado
11 Seed: Florida State
12 Seed: Oklahoma State
13 Seed: Louisville
14 Seed: Auburn
15 Seed: Western Michigan
16 Seed: West Virginia
3 Seed: Michigan State (BTN Champ)
4 Seed: Oklahoma (B12 Champ)
5 Seed: Iowa
6 Seed: Stanford (Pac 12 Champ)
7 Seed: Ohio State
8 Seed: Notre Dame
9 Seed: Florida State
10 Seed: North Carolina
11 Seed: TCU
12 Seed: Ole Miss
13 Seed: Northwestern
14 Seed: Michigan
15 Seed: Oregon
16 Seed: Oklahoma State
3 Seed: Florida State (ACC Champ)
4 Seed: Ohio State (BTN Champ)
5 Seed: Baylor (B12 Champ)
6 Seed: TCU
7 Seed: Mississippi State
8 Seed: Michigan State
9 Seed: Ole Miss
10 Seed: Arizona
11 Seed: Kansas State
12 Seed: Georgia Tech
13 Seed: Georgia
14 Seed: UCLA
15 Seed: Arizona State
16 Seed: Missouri 
