We’ve seen enough to declare that the first 12-team College Football Playoff has been an unquestionable success, with just one game remaining in the 2024–25 season.
Although there are a few small problems that need to be fixed, the sport has benefited greatly from the general format adjustment. There were more important games played every Saturday in the last month of the season since more teams were in the running for the playoffs than ever before. There was still the customary heated argument about which teams should receive the last spots in the bracket in college football. At the end of the season, there were eleven CFP games rather than three, and four of those were held in electric campus settings.
Eleven regular-season games have drawn over 9 million viewers, demonstrating the high level of interest in the sport throughout the season. On average, 10.6 million people watched the first-round CFP games, 16.9 million watched the quarterfinals, and 19.2 million watched the semifinals (held on Thursday and Friday evenings). An enormous crowd is also anticipated for Monday night’s national championship game, which will feature two of the bluest of blue bloods, Ohio State and Notre Dame.
Notably, neither of the competitors in the championship game has an undefeated record. After suffering a humiliating defeat to Northern Illinois in Week 2, Notre Dame went on to win 13 straight games to reach this point. Even though Ohio State fell to their infamous opponent at the end of the regular season, they were still guaranteed a spot in the CFP.
“Our team has been able to develop and grow throughout the season thanks to the new format,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day stated. Even while losses are painful, they provide us coaches and players the opportunity to examine the problems closely and find solutions. After that, it’s about the business of fixing them over time.
That, in my opinion, is the most important thing I’ve discovered about this format, which has, in my opinion, been excellent for our athletes. It’s fantastic for college football, in my opinion.
Rich Clark, executive director of CFP, concurred that the event was successful.
The commissioner intended for us to carry out the system we established as best we could in order to draw in the top teams and allow them to compete for the championship, Clark stated. Everything went really well.
Going into the fall, there was some concern that the regular season might suffer as a result of the new format. Would games feel less significant now that everyone knew that teams didn’t have to be undefeated to qualify for the bracket? After Notre Dame’s defeat to Northern Illinois, ask the team’s supporters whether it hurt any less because they still have a chance to win and qualify for the playoffs. Or Ohio State supporters following a fourth consecutive defeat to Michigan, as the Buckeyes might still contend for a national title. The world still seemed to be coming to an end in both college towns. It turned out that there was still a lot of meaning.
According to Clark, the regular season was the best he’s ever seen.
According to Clark, there were several games of consequence, and they were all quite thrilling. We think the playoffs were a great way to end that successful regular season.
According to Clark, the conference commissioners in charge of the CFP should take some time this offseason to look at the game locations and the selection and seeding procedures. While some adjustments might be made before the 2025–2026 season, it is much more likely that significant changes won’t happen until the following season (when leadership will not need to agree on everything). The importance of conference championship games is a different but related problem that the sport’s power brokers anticipate being examined in the future.
Since this year’s bracket became lopsided due to the obligation of reserving the top four seed lines for conference champions, some commentators have argued that this should not be the case in the future. The CFP selection committee placed No. 3 seed Boise State and No. 4 seed Arizona State in ninth and twelveth place, respectively. Therefore, if the final rankings had been followed, they ought to have been seeded lower in the bracket. Because of this, some of the most dangerous at-large teams—like Ohio State and Notre Dame—were seeded lower than they ought to have been. Additionally, the Buckeyes eliminated Oregon, the top overall seed, in the quarterfinals.
Even while the seeding problem might have arisen naturally, conference realignment in recent years made it worse. Prior to Texas and Oklahoma switching from the Big 12 to the SEC and the Big Ten adding four West Coast schools, including Oregon, the first bracket (and its conference championship criteria) was put forth. The relative power of different conference champions is impacted by the Big Ten and SEC now snatch up more at-large spots due to the teams they added (and having a number of teams ranked in the top 10 overall). The bracket layout is impacted if conference champions from two or three other leagues are weaker than at-large teams from two conferences.
However, the only obvious fault with the new format was the seeding issue. Other than that, everything appeared to go smoothly, especially the first-round games played on campus, which were so well welcomed that it may be possible to move future quarterfinal games from bowl sites to campuses as well.
For the first time, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian stated, “I don’t think many of us are going to complain about this 12-team Playoff.” Speaking for DKR [Darrell K. Royal Memorial Stadium], I can say that it was thrilling to host the first-round match. The atmosphere was amazing.
For our players, participating in two bowl games—the Cotton Bowl and the Peach Bowl—was an incredible opportunity. Is this formula exactly correct? I’m not sure. Although some others will need to examine this, I believe we’re off to a strong start.
Sarkisian is hard to dispute with on that issue. College football is seldom flawless, but this one might be. It’s disorganized. It’s not easy. Additionally, it generates more controversy than almost any other sport on the planet.
However, this playoff structure guarantees that the top teams in the nation have the opportunity to compete on the field and decide who is the real greatest team in the nation. To choose the national champion, they don’t need to use computer formulas or polls. Round after round, these teams get to decide it for themselves.
And that is something to be happy about.