Explainer: How the College Football Playoff rankings are determined

A completely new method of selecting college football’s national champion is set to take place.

The 2024 season will be the first to employ an expanded, 12-team field for the College Football Playoff after ten years of a four-team playoff format.

There is now greater area for discussion about who should be allowed to play, who should be excluded, and where the games will be played, just as expansion has given more clubs additional routes to a championship. Let’s get started.

Who decides who makes the cut?

Since its debut in 2014, the College Football Playoff has always had a selection committee. When the final 12-team rankings are revealed on December 8, the bracket will be determined by a 13-member committee that has been releasing its rankings every week since November.

What is the committee looking for?

One of the hot-button concerns this season is how the committee would compare teams with two or more losses who have played a more difficult schedule overall to those who have earned better records against a weaker schedule.

Four of the previous five national champions have come from the SEC, one of college athletics’ two most dominant conferences along with the Big Ten, but this fall, there isn’t a single standout. The conference has openly advocated for the committee to give strength of schedule top priority because its schools have generally outperformed one another, which might benefit SEC clubs.

When revealing rankings in November, Michigan’s athletic director and chair of the CFP committee, Warde Manuel, told ESPN that the committee takes schedule strength into account in every discussion. It all contributes to the topics we discuss and debate.

Does winning your conference title mean you automatically make the field?

No. The NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision consists of ten conferences. However, the champions of each will not be included in the 12-team field. The twelve will be selected from:

The five highest-ranking conference champions
Plus the next seven highest-ranked teams

How is the bracket seeded?

The top four conference winners will receive a first-round bye and be seeded 1-4. This implies that the bracket may differ from the final rankings determined by the committee. Consider Miami, which is ranked eighth. Although it is currently outside the top four, it would receive a top-four seeding as one of the four highest-ranked conference champions if it wins the ACC, which it currently leads.

A point that won’t have an impact this season but might in the future is that if the top four seeds are reserved for conference winners, a non-conference team, like Notre Dame, could still place in the top four but only receive a No. 5 seed at the very top.

Eight teams will remain to compete in the bracket once the first four seeds are decided. Those clubs’ final rankings will determine their seeding, which will range from 5 to 12. The committee has stated that it will not try to avoid conference play rematches when it makes seeding decisions.

Oh, and just to be clear, after the bracket is finalized, it cannot be re-seeded. It’s similar to March Madness: print out the bracket and play out every opponent your favorite team might face on their path to winning the championship.

My team just made the first round. Where are they playing?

This is where the College Football Playoff’s latest iteration goes in a way that no other playoff has. On campus, the first round will pit the eight teams ranked 5–12 against one another. Better-seeded teams will host; for example, a 5-seed will host a 12-seed, a 6-seed will host an 11-seed, and so forth. These games are scheduled for December 20th or 21st.

The playoff quarterfinals will then be held at the Fiesta Bowl, Rose Bowl, Peach Bowl, or Sugar Bowl on either December 31 or January 1. One of the four quarterfinals will be hosted by the top four seeds in the bracket.

Did your team win the game in the quarterfinals? Congratulations! You have advanced to the Cotton Bowl and Orange Bowl semifinals, which will take place on January 9 or 10.

And the national championship?

Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on January 20. The national championship is played one week later than it has in the past.

Got it! So, this is how the format will be moving forward for years and years, correct?

Maybe, but don’t expect it. Expect nothing but change when it comes to college football. The executive director of the playoffs informed ESPN in July that no decisions regarding the format for selecting the winner for the following season would be made until after the title game on January 20 of this year.

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