Overview
- USA TODAY Sports ran 100 full-season simulations inside the College Football 27 video game to estimate which teams might reach an expanded 12-team College Football Playoff and win the national title.
- Miami appeared in the simulated playoff more than any other program, making the field in 91 of the 100 runs.
- Ohio State won the most simulated national championships with 22 titles, and 21 different teams won at least once across the runs, showing the model produces many different outcomes.
- Fifty-seven of the 138 FBS teams reached the simulated playoff at least once, and nine teams made it in more than half of the simulations: Miami, Ohio State, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, USC, Notre Dame, Mississippi, BYU, and SMU.
- The exercise uses College Football 27’s updated rosters and game mechanics but does not account for real-season factors such as injuries, transfers, coaching changes, or in-season developments, so results are illustrative probability estimates rather than forecasts.