The Big 12 has had several surprising teams out of the gate in 2024, while some others have either lived up to the hype or failed to do so.
With the new College Football Playoff moving to a 12-team format, some of these teams that have had fast starts are setting themselves up to make a run at that new field.
Projections come out every week, and with college football’s volatility from week to week, those projections will change several times between now and the end of the year.
In Week 5, Kelley Ford projected what a 12-team playoff would look like if it started today, based on their most deserving rankings and the College Football Playoff seeding rules.
BYU, who is coming off a 38-9 win over Kansas State, is listed as the No. 2 seed in this projection after jumping out to a 4-0 start. The Cougars would play the winner of No. 7 Texas and No. 10 Pittsburgh in this particular look.
Utah, also 4-0, is the No. 6 seed and would face No. 10 Michigan, with the winner facing the No. 3 seed Illinois. Iowa State (3-0) checks in as the No. 9 seed and would face the No. 8 seed Miami (FL), with the winner taking on No. 1 Georgia.
KFord makes sure to make the distinction that this isn’t a prediction of the Committee’s actual rankings, but it is interesting to look at this group of teams based on their performance so far this season.
With three of the 12 teams coming out of the Big 12, this projection is really a testament to how impressive the league has been as a whole trough the first month of the season.
