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Coach Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks had a tremendous 2024 season. They won the Big Ten championship, defeating the Penn State Nittany Lions. They were undefeated heading into the college football playoff and even defeated Ohio State earlier in the year. However, they drew a tough matchup in the quarterfinals against Ohio State in January 2025, but were defeated 41-21.
On Friday, "Locked On SEC" posted a new video looking at the 2024 college football playoff bracket if it had the recently approved straight seeding rules. In the new model, Boise State and Arizona State would not have received byes to the quarterfinal simply because they won their conferences. Texas and Penn State would have received the byes instead.
In this new format, analyst Chris Gordy believes Oregon could have won the national championship, or at least qualified for the national championship game.
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"Indiana would've played Oregon. Do you think Dan Lanning's looking at this going, "yeah, we would've preferred this." Oregon probably would've played for a national championship last year because it would've been a first round bye. They would've had to beat Indiana at a neutral site. Then they would've played the winner of Penn State-Notre Dame." [7:30]
"They wouldn't have seen Ohio State until the championship, possibly, if Ohio State had gotten past Texas. And the winner of Georgia-Tennessee would've played in the semifinal."
Gordy went on to praise the NCAA and all the commissioners for getting this new format approved.
"This is something I just applaud everyone involved. I applaud all the ADs, the conference commissioners. This is what needed to be done."
Teams like Oregon in more competitive conferences should benefit from the recent changes to the playoff format
In the first year of the 12-team college football playoff format, teams in weaker conferences like the Big 12, ACC and Mountain West had an advantage. Two of the winners of those conferences would earn a bye through the first round. They would earn that bye despite their easier schedule compared to teams in the Big Ten and SEC.
However, things are changing next season, and it will likely benefit teams like Oregon. On Thursday, a straight seeding model was approved for the upcoming season. This means the top four teams, as determined by the selection committee, will be the top four seeds and earn a bye, regardless of whether they won their conference.
In this new format, Notre Dame will also be eligible to earn a bye. The 12 teams will be seeded based on the committee's rankings. However, the five highest-ranked conference champions will still be guaranteed a playoff spot.
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