How would the College Football Playoff bracket look if the season ended today?

2023-09-27 08:54

After an month of college football, the storylines are starting to emerge. What does the CFP race look like at this moment?

Now that we're one-third of the way into the 2023 college football season, it's only natural to start imagining what the College Football Playoff bracket is going to look like.

With eight games of the regular season remaining for the majority of teams in addition to conference championship bouts, there is still a lot of football left to determine the final four-team College Football Playoff as the field will expand to 12 teams in 2024.

Now that several big non-conference (and a few in-conference) games are in the book, though, what would the College Football Playoff bracket look like if the season ended today? Let's take a look.

College Football Playoff bracket if season ended after Week 4

Based on the latest AP Top 25 rankings, here's what the CFP bracket would look like:

CFP Semifinal (Sugar Bowl): 1 Georgia Bulldogs vs. 4 Ohio State Buckeyes
CFP Semifinal (Rose Bowl): 2 Michigan Wolverines vs. 3 Texas Longhorns
First Two Out: 5 Florida State Seminoles, 6 Penn State Nittany Lions

Back-to-back national champions, Georgia would face Ohio State as the No. 1 seed, surely choosing the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans as its closer to Athens than Pasadena... by a lot. The Bulldogs haven't faced high-level competition just yet, but the Buckeyes just passed a big test in Week 4 by taking down Notre Dame in South Bend.

The other matchup would be between two blue bloods, Michigan and Texas. Fresh off back-to-back CFP berths, the Wolverines are similar to Georgia in that they haven't been tested yet. Also similar to the other semifinal matchup, Texas has passed its big test to this point, toppling Alabama in Tuscaloosa back in Week 2.

When it comes to Georgia's scheduling, it could be a case where they are unchallenged all regular season. Based on the games their opponents have played so far, it doesn't seem like any offense has a puncher chance outside of Jaxson Dart's Ole Miss offense. Perhaps Tennessee and Florida could challenge the Bulldogs, but the sample size is too limited.

As for Michigan and Ohio State, the latter has the best win of the two to date, but their berths could come down to The Game in the final week of the regular season. Having said that, the current projected No. 6 seed, Penn State, could spoil the party in the Big Ten as both the Wolverines and Buckeyes have to face Drew Allar's Nittany Lions.

Texas will also be tested again in the coming weeks, facing off against No. 24 Kansas and Jalon Daniels in Week 5 before then taking on rival Oklahoma.