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CFP Expands to 12 Teams in 2024 [Updated with Sample Bracket]
- Thread starter DuckTownHusker
- Start date
First Round is played week of December 21, 2024.
The #1-#4 seeds appear to get a First Round BYE (see: NFL) while #5-12 play each other (5 vs 12, etc). The higher seed gets home field advantage, or can designate another site.
The #1-#4 seeds appear to get a First Round BYE (see: NFL) while #5-12 play each other (5 vs 12, etc). The higher seed gets home field advantage, or can designate another site.
| Season | Quarter Finals | Semi Finals | Final |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Fiesta Bowl Peach Bowl Rose Bowl Sugar Bowl | Cotton Bowl Orange Bowl | National Championship Game |
| 2025 | Cotton Bowl Orange Bowl Rose Bowl Sugar Bowl | Fiesta Bowl Peach Bowl | National Championship Game |
Hate the first round bye. Depending on who might play in a CCG, some teams could end up with 2 extra games depending on how the conference championships shake out. It probably wouldn't happen often, but it could happen. Take this season for example, if chaos ensues this weekend, Bama or OSU could end up in the top 4, earning a bye and skipping the CCG. A 1 game advantage will be hard enough for 5-12 to overcome. I'd be surprised if 5-12 ever makes it to the final.
Seems dumb to play at neutral sites. Lets say Washington makes it to playoff, but gets 1st round matchup with Clemson. They may have to travel to Clemson and if win play in Peach Bowl. Semi finals at Orange bowl and then national championship game (wherever that is). This is after playing Pac 12 championship in Las Vegas. How many of their fans will be able to go to those games?
I think I disagree. A 5 seed is likely to beat a 12 seed, and is likely 50-50 to then beat a somewhat rusty 4 seed. To your other point, if that 5 seed was in a CCG (likely), they would play a 16 game season, which seems like a lot. Might thes 16 to 20 team conferences skip holding a CCG? Figuring out who the top 2 teams are may not be easy.
Maybe HCMR can have us in the position to be competitive for this 12 team playoff in two years. High hopes, but you have to dream big.
I ran the numbers for the 2021 CFB season to create a bracket of what a 12-team playoff would have looked like. Again, 2021, because 2022 isn't quite over just yet.
A few things to consider:
A few things to consider:
- The top four conference champions are guaranteed to get a 1st Round BYE. This creates a few interesting wrinkles. First, you'll notice that ACC Champ Pitt is nowhere to be found (sorry, Whipple). This is not because the ACC was intentionally excluded, but rather that Pitt had an incredibly awkward ranking of #13. This was sort of a double whammy because they were the sixth-best conference champ behind Alabama, Michigan, Utah, Oklahoma State, and Cincinnati, but also that the top 12 teams filled out the bracket, meaning that Pitt did not get an At-Large bid either. This is based purely on rankings, though, and I have to feel like a Playoff Selection Committee would probably put the ACC Champ into the field over #11 Oklahoma or #12 Ole Miss.
- The emphasis on conference champs means some odd seedings. #1 overall team Georgia didn't actually win the SEC - Alabama did - so the Tide actually claim the #1 seed in the bracket. Alabama was the #2 team overall, and because they bested Georgia in the SEC CCG, they slip into that 2nd Round, while the Bulldogs fall to 5th and have to play a 1st Round game. The takeaway here is that teams should not only be striving for a conference title, but also to be one of the higher ranked champs. As we see with Pitt, you can wrap up a title and still not earn the 1st Round BYE, or even make the bracket at all.
- The higher seed gets homefield advantage in the 1st Round. This is according to the playoff rules. Technically, the higher seed gets to pick where they want to play, so it's possible to arrange a neutral site (or even away) game, but I have no idea why any team would ever pick this option. The 1st Round game between Ohio State and Notre Dame in Columbus is particularly thrilling, IMO, so there's a lot of potential for some big games here.
- The Quarter-Finals and Semi-Finals are hosted at the "New Years Six" Bowls. Technically, this bracket is for 2021, but I'm using the arrangement for 2023 where the Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl are the semi-finals. Don't get hung up here, it's just a mock up. But I am curious as to whether the bowls will be preassigned, such as the #1 seed of the bracket playing towards the Rose Bowl, etc., or whether the bowls will have some kind of agreement that takes geography and traditional rivals/bowls into account. In this case, I opted to use the Rose Bowl for the upper-left quadrant as it felt like a good fit for the bracket with Ohio State and Notre Dame. Same for the lower-right quadrant featuring Oklahoma, Ok. State, and the Fiesta Bowl. But it's anyone's guess at this point as to how the bowls are doled out.
- Winner of the Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, and National Championship (Bowl)? Let's assume Georgia wins it all like they did in real life for 2021. In that scenario, they are Sugar Bowl Champs. And Orange Bowl Champs. And National Champs. It's super odd to me to see a team win two major bowls in a single season, but that's the new reality. It also means that teams who tend to get deep into the playoffs (see: Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State) will likely get twice as many bowl wins. Nebraska is still tied for 6th place on most bowl appearances, but that could change quick. If we keep having 4-5 win seasons, it'll be annoying watching Ohio State or Michigan clear TWO bowls per season while we have none. Again, this is more fan debate / message board fodder, but if Rhule can get us back into annual bowls (even crappy bowls), it'll help stem the tide of other teams running away from us in this category. And if we somehow crack into the playoffs sooner than later, it'll help us regain some ground.
They need to mix in playing in some nasty places like Chicago, Michigan, Ohio
Considering this point,I ran the numbers for the 2021 CFB season to create a bracket of what a 12-team playoff would have looked like. Again, 2021, because 2022 isn't quite over just yet.
A few things to consider:
- The top four conference champions are guaranteed to get a 1st Round BYE. This creates a few interesting wrinkles. First, you'll notice that ACC Champ Pitt is nowhere to be found (sorry, Whipple). This is not because the ACC was intentionally excluded, but rather that Pitt had an incredibly awkward ranking of #13. This was sort of a double whammy because they were the sixth-best conference champ behind Alabama, Michigan, Utah, Oklahoma State, and Cincinnati, but also that the top 12 teams filled out the bracket, meaning that Pitt did not get an At-Large bid either. This is based purely on rankings, though, and I have to feel like a Playoff Selection Committee would probably put the ACC Champ into the field over #11 Oklahoma or #12 Ole Miss.
- The emphasis on conference champs means some odd seedings. #1 overall team Georgia didn't actually win the SEC - Alabama did - so the Tide actually claim the #1 seed in the bracket. Alabama was the #2 team overall, and because they bested Georgia in the SEC CCG, they slip into that 2nd Round, while the Bulldogs fall to 5th and have to play a 1st Round game. The takeaway here is that teams should not only be striving for a conference title, but also to be one of the higher ranked champs. As we see with Pitt, you can wrap up a title and still not earn the 1st Round BYE, or even make the bracket at all.
- The higher seed gets homefield advantage in the 1st Round. This is according to the playoff rules. Technically, the higher seed gets to pick where they want to play, so it's possible to arrange a neutral site (or even away) game, but I have no idea why any team would ever pick this option. The 1st Round game between Ohio State and Notre Dame in Columbus is particularly thrilling, IMO, so there's a lot of potential for some big games here.
- The Quarter-Finals and Semi-Finals are hosted at the "New Years Six" Bowls. Technically, this bracket is for 2021, but I'm using the arrangement for 2023 where the Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl are the semi-finals. Don't get hung up here, it's just a mock up. But I am curious as to whether the bowls will be preassigned, such as the #1 seed of the bracket playing towards the Rose Bowl, etc., or whether the bowls will have some kind of agreement that takes geography and traditional rivals/bowls into account. In this case, I opted to use the Rose Bowl for the upper-left quadrant as it felt like a good fit for the bracket with Ohio State and Notre Dame. Same for the lower-right quadrant featuring Oklahoma, Ok. State, and the Fiesta Bowl. But it's anyone's guess at this point as to how the bowls are doled out.
- Winner of the Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, and National Championship (Bowl)? Let's assume Georgia wins it all like they did in real life for 2021. In that scenario, they are Sugar Bowl Champs. And Orange Bowl Champs. And National Champs. It's super odd to me to see a team win two major bowls in a single season, but that's the new reality. It also means that teams who tend to get deep into the playoffs (see: Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State) will likely get twice as many bowl wins. Nebraska is still tied for 6th place on most bowl appearances, but that could change quick. If we keep having 4-5 win seasons, it'll be annoying watching Ohio State or Michigan clear TWO bowls per season while we have none. Again, this is more fan debate / message board fodder, but if Rhule can get us back into annual bowls (even crappy bowls), it'll help stem the tide of other teams running away from us in this category. And if we somehow crack into the playoffs sooner than later, it'll help us regain some ground.
The top four conference champions are guaranteed to get a 1st Round BYE.
It looks like it's time for Notre Dame to join a conference, because as an independent even if they are rated the #1 team in the country, they are a 5th seed at best.
Correct. There was much discussion on this exact issue on Reddit.
It's a risk-reward thing for the Irish to consider. If they join a conference, they can potentially skip the first round by winning a conference championship. The flip side is that Notre Dame currently does not have to play a conference championship game.
Said another way, the "penalty" for avoiding a tougher schedule and bypassing a CCG is that the Irish can never crack the #1-4 seeds. IMO, it seems to be a fair arrangement and Notre Dame will have to consider if they would prefer to always fight through a first round, or fight through a CCG. It's a fairy even trade from what I can see.
College Football Playoff makes official 12-team expansion beginning in 2024-25 season
Playoff expansion will bring access to more programs and plenty of profits to key parties
www.cbssports.com
And that is why I said if Notre Dame stays independent they will never be seeded higher then 5th because they can never get a bye since they aren't a top 4 conference champion.The expanded 12-team bracket will feature the six highest-ranked conference champions as automatic qualifiers along with the next six highest-ranked teams. The four highest-ranked conference champions will be seeded 1-4 with first-round byes. The next four highest-ranked teams (Nos. 5-8) will host the first-round matchups.College Football Playoff makes official 12-team expansion beginning in 2024-25 season
Playoff expansion will bring access to more programs and plenty of profits to key parties
I agree. I meant to be responding to Ducktown's statement:
- The top four conference champions are guaranteed to get a 1st Round BYE. This creates a few interesting wrinkles. First, you'll notice that ACC Champ Pitt is nowhere to be found (sorry, Whipple). This is not because the ACC was intentionally excluded, but rather that Pitt had an incredibly awkward ranking of #13. This was sort of a double whammy because they were the sixth-best conference champ behind Alabama, Michigan, Utah, Oklahoma State, and Cincinnati, but also that the top 12 teams filled out the bracket, meaning that Pitt did not get an At-Large bid either. This is based purely on rankings, though, and I have to feel like a Playoff Selection Committee would probably put the ACC Champ into the field over #11 Oklahoma or #12 Ole Miss.
