Mark Dantonio gives his take on a 12-team playoff

The expansion of the College Football Playoff to 12 teams has been one of the biggest topics of conversation in the sport for some time. Now, former Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio gave his thoughts on the 12-team format.

For Dantonio, someone who competed in the Playoff, he sees the real possibility of a three-loss national champion and wonders how people are going to react to that.

“Yeah, it was a great experience until the second half of that game,” Mark Dantonio said, referring to Michigan State’s College Football Playoff game against Alabama. “Got a little dicey then. But such is life.”

That game, the 2015 Cotton Bowl, was Michigan State’s only trip to the CFP. After a close first half, the Crimson Tide exploded in the second half to win 38-0 on their way to a national championship.

That wasn’t the only time Mark Dantonio has ever competed for a national championship, though. He was also a defensive coordinator at Ohio State in the BCS era, winning a national championship there.

“But I think that at that point time, you know — I participated in the National Championship game when it was Ohio State vs. Miami. There were only two teams. So, when they went to four, that made it better. They go to 12, you know, that’s a lot,” Dantonio said.

“In some cases, you know, I think people are going to have to get used to maybe a 10-3 team being in the championship game because it may happen, just like in the NFL. And I think as long as people can handle that and say, ‘That’s the best football team,’ you know, then that’s okay, but four’s worked. My time in the playoff was a high point, like I said, until that second half. We were down 10-0, but that’s the way it goes sometimes, but it was positive experience, I think.”

Ultimately, Mark Dantonio thought the four-team CFP was effective and worked. He also understands that there are financial reasons for expanding that often go beyond other things.

“But I don’t know that it’s more is better. More is more financially better; I can tell you that. Which is usually the case for making it.”

How a 12-team College Football Playoff would look in 2022

Using the future format of the College Football Playoff, it can be interesting to look at what the field would look like in 2022.

Those rules are that the six highest-ranked conference champions qualify for the CFP. The next six highest-rated teams are then given at-large bids. The top four conference champions then get a first-round bye, while the higher seed hosts the first round.

Using the final rankings, here's how an expanded playoff would look via the adopted format that’ll begin in 2024:

Reminders:
(1) 6 highest-ranked champs get AQs
(2) next 6 highest-ranked teams get At-Larges
(3) byes to top 4 conference champs
(4) 1st round at better seed pic.twitter.com/tZCAPH9kme

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) December 4, 2022

In this scenario, Tennessee would be taking on Kansas State in an eight-seed vs. nine-seed game. Winner gets Georgia. Meanwhile, TCU and Tulane would compete in a five-seed vs. 12-seed game where the winner draws Utah.

On the other side of the bracket, Alabama and USC would have played for the right to take on Michigan. Then, Ohio State and Penn State would have a rematch to see who played Clemson.