If you thought this idea for a 12-team bracket would make things easy and fun, then let us tell you that it has been anything but “easy and fun”. With the penultimate CFP ranking list out, there have been more questions than celebrations. Georgia is the 5th seed. OSU got dropped to the 6th spot after that massive loss to Michigan. Indiana is standing in the 9th spot after Curt Cignetti choked against OSU. And the worst of them all; Alabama has somehow managed to sneak into the 11th spot despite their loss to an unranked Vandy and a washed-up Oklahoma team. If all of this chaos wasn’t enough, Joel Klatt points out that more issues can come up for Bama, OSU, Hoosiers, and the Dawgs.

“Next Sunday night is going to be between who gets the six and who gets the seven seed,” Klatt points out. With the conference title games, the Dawgs face off against the Longhorns for the SEC title, but Bama, Hoosiers, and OSU are going to miss out. But here is the problem: with Penn State and Ducks fighting it off for the Big 10 title, it could mess up OSU and Hoosiers’ path on the final playoff rankings. “I have it as Georgia behind Ohio State. Now. It could very well be flipped. And maybe they’ll try to make it so that Ohio State wouldn’t play Indiana. Maybe Indiana would slip behind Alabama,” Klatt adds.

See, if somehow Texas manages to snag the SEC title and Penn State gets the B1G over the undefeated Ducks, then it could end up flipping the matchups between the 7th and 10th seed and the 6th and 11th seed. We do know that Bama’s spot is pretty much fixed at 12.

Miami is not playing for the ACC conference title, and if Clemson manages to win over SMU, then the Hurricanes will be the first team out, and the Tigers will get the 12th spot. This could mean that with Penn State getting the number 2 seed (with the win over the Ducks) and Texas getting the number 1 seed, we could end up seeing the Dawgs go up against OSU and Hoosiers against the Tide.

Now, naturally, the committee will try to avoid a game between OSU and Indiana and Bama and Georgia to avoid rematches, but the alternative doesn’t sound that much fun for Ryan Day and Curt Cignetti and, up to a certain extent, for Kalen DeBoer as well. And now that this conversation is finally happening, can we talk about how one team got robbed of their spot on the list?

The team that no one wants to play: South Carolina

Say what you want, but the Gamecocks not getting the 11th spot is criminal. Not only have these guys had a massive season, but their only losses have been against actually good teams, but by very close margins. They didn’t lose a single game to any unranked opponent and almost managed to snag a win against Bama. The Gamecocks also pushed Clemson off from their easy road to the playoff.

Putting Bama in over them managed to send fans into chaos as well. “If the committee steps back and says, right now at this moment who are the 12 best teams in college football, It’s hard to argue that we’re not one of them,” HC Shane Beamer pointed out. It is not only them; SMU is another victim.

The Mustangs are also in for the ACC title game against Clemson but somehow are still ranked lower than an OSU team who are not even in the conference title showdown. Someone go ask the committee to switch back to the 4 team format cause this season has spiraled out of control.