Okay, so I wanted to get a handle on this whole football playoff bracket thing. It’s been buzzing around, and I figured, why not dive in and see what the fuss is all about?
First off, I started looking into how many teams actually make it to the playoffs. Turns out, it’s 14 teams since they changed things up back in 2020. Seven from the AFC, seven from the NFC. The top dogs in each conference, the division winners, they get seeded 1 through 4 based on how well they did in the regular season. Then there are three wild-card teams from each conference, and they’re also ranked by their records.
How the bracket works
Now, the NFL doesn’t do things like those simple, fixed brackets you see in some other sports. Nope, it’s a bit more dynamic. The Wild Card games shake things up, and those results determine who plays who in the Divisional playoffs. The lowest-seeded team left standing has to go up against the top seed, and the second-lowest goes against the second-highest. It’s like a little mini-tournament just to figure out the next round.
I was digging around, trying to find some examples, and it seems like they’ve got some big names this year, like Ashton Jeanty from Boise State and Tyler Warren from Penn State. Apparently, they’re going to be big players to watch.
The 12-team expansion
Something else caught my eye – they’re talking about a 12-team College Football Playoff bracket. I guess that’s the first time they’re doing that many teams. I saw that SMU made it in, but Alabama didn’t, which seems like a big deal.
The first round of this expanded playoff is set for December 20th, and it’s going down in South Bend, Indiana. Should be interesting to see how that plays out.
Keeping track of everything
To keep track of all this, I made myself a little cheat sheet. Here’s how it looked:
- Number of Teams: 14 (7 AFC, 7 NFC)
- Seeding:
- Top 4 seeds in each conference are division winners (ranked by record)
- Next 3 are wild-card teams (ranked by record)
- Matchups: No fixed bracket; determined by Wild Card results
- Players to Watch: Ashton Jeanty (Boise State), Tyler Warren (Penn State)
- 12-Team Expansion: First time, includes SMU, no Alabama
- First Round Date: December 20th
- Location: South Bend, Indiana
So yeah, that’s my little adventure into the world of football playoff brackets. It’s a bit more complex than I thought, but it’s kind of cool how it all comes together. I’m definitely going to be paying more attention this season, especially with that new 12-team setup in college football. We’ll see how it all shakes out!
