Here’s how the final CFP bracket compares to simulated BCS rankings
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
The College Football Playoff was installed as a replacement for the Bowl Championship Series, replacing the computerized system with one that contained a human element.
Unsurprisingly, just like computers, the human element isn’t devoid of controversy. Just ask Notre Dame fans, who found out that their Fighting Irish won’t make the Playoff field.
What if the BCS system was still around in 2025, though? BCSKnowHow.com on Sunday posted a simulated bracket based on hypothetical BCS rankings, as you can see below:
The top three are the same in both the official CFB bracket and the simulated BCS bracket. The latter, though, has Oregon at No. 4 and Texas Tech at No. 5. Ole Miss, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma are 6-7-8 with Alabama No. 9 in the actual Playoff rankings and No. 10 in the BCS rankings.
Notre Dame, JMU, and Tulane would all make a theoretical BCS playoff field; they’d be 10-11-12. One missing team from the BCS bracket, though, is Miami.
Could computer models play into the College Football Playoff selection process in the near future? That remains to be seen. In any event, there seems to be a consensus that a 16-team Playoff field isn’t too far away.
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
