What if an electoral college chose the College Football Playoff field?

Selecting the College Football Playoff field

In this political science fiction narrative of an electoral college selecting the College Football Playoff teams through nominations, there has to be some real-world drama, right?

In this system, there could technically be faithless electors, non-voting delegates, and so forth. But let’s simplify and imagine that the current “de facto” system exists: that a candidate (a team, in this case) goes for each state’s electors in a winner-take-all slugfest.

The 2020 scenario

First imagined step of the scenario: the 2020 college football season happens.

Next step: Power Five teams actually play non-conference games against each other (so, yeah, really using our imaginations here). LSU manages to capture the state of Texas through decisive victories against Texas and Texas A&M. Perhaps Texas holds the Sooners close in the Red River Shootout, or OU gets upset by a squad like TCU or Texas Tech, and all of the electoral votes of the Lone Star state shift to LSU.

Consider this added bonus of a fictitious college football electoral college: schools are rewarded even more for going out and a) scheduling a tough non-conference opponent and b) defeating said opponent.

If Alabama-USC had implications on the winner-take-all system of a state’s electoral votes toward the Tide or the Trojans later on the year, the pressure is ratcheted up more (this is assuming that Alabama-USC would have been played in a normal year). Same goes for Clemson-Notre Dame, LSU-Texas A&M, etc.

States like New York could swing to Oklahoma if the Sooners defeat Army in convincing fashion. States like Indiana could fall to Clemson if the two teams play each other regularly (despite this year’s unique ACC setup).

2020 College Football Playoff field

• No. 1 Clemson (108 votes) vs. No. 4 Alabama (66 votes)
• No. 2 Ohio State (88 votes) vs. No. 3 LSU (79 votes)

So we end this iteration of the 2020 season with four CFP teams: No. 1 Clemson vs. No. 4 Alabama and No. 2 Ohio State vs. No. 3 LSU. OU is out a spot because of the shift of Texas’ votes to LSU, which makes a crucial difference. Of course, the Longhorns could win their own state with a Big 12 title and a win against OU, but let’s be slightly realistic.

In this system, college football powers vie for each state’s electoral votes with on-field success in a given season, resulting in a CFP lineup against which few could argue.