I don’t understand the fictional. Is that what you are projecting at the end of the season, prior to bowls?
I think he is doing a couple things:
First, he is using the model under discussion where the top-6 league Champions and six at-large teams get in. I also *THINK* that the first round byes are reserved for league Champions.
Second, like a lot of NCAA Tournament forecasters do, he is just assuming that the highest ranked team in a league will be the league Champion. Thus, #2 tOSU is the assumed B1G Champion.
Following that logic and the existing rankings I get the following playoff seeds:
- #1 UGA (presumed SEC Champ)
- #2 tOSU (presumed B1G Champ)
- #4 TCU (presumed B12 Champ)
- #6 Oregon (presumed P12 Champ)
- #3 Michigan, at large
- #5 Tennessee, at large
- #7 LSU, at large
- #8 USC, at large
- #9 Bama, at large
- #10 Clemson (presumed ACC Champ)
- #11 Ole Miss, at large
- #17 Tulane (presumed tallest midget)
So then the match-ups in the first round are hosted by the #5-8 seeds:
- Tulane at Michigan
- Ole Miss at Tennessee
- Clemson at LSU
- Bama at USC
However, I thought the model under discussion reseeded after the first round. Maybe that was just wishful thinking on my part because I think it should.
If it doesn't, it is simple, you get the second round matchups that
@OrangeAfroMan laid out:
- Tulane/Michigan vs Oregon
- Ole Miss/Tennessee vs TCU
- Clemson/LSU vs tOSU
- Bama/USC vs UGA
However, if we reseed then we cannot determine the second round games until we know the first round results.
Looking at your team's game as an example:
- If Michigan wins they'll be the #3 seed and play the #6 seed.
- If Tulane upsets Michigan in the Big House they'll be the #8 seed and play UGA.
So let's say the winners are the four home teams. (SIDE NOTE FOR
@jgvol and other SEC fans, the result of the Bama/USC game is irrelevant as far as seeding/match-ups go because they are #8/9 and thus interchangeable so you can just mentally replace "USC" with "Bama" to get the version where Bama wins out in LA) The second round games would be:
- UGA vs USC
- tOSU vs LSU
- Michigan vs Oregon
- TCU vs Tennessee
But note that one upset can change all four games. If Tulane upsets Michigan we get:
- UGA vs Tulane
- tOSU vs USC
- TCU vs LSU
- Tennessee vs Oregon