Will consist of the six highest-ranked conference champions and the six highest-ranked at-large teams as chosen by the CFP selection committee. The top four conference champions will be seeded Nos. 1 through 4 and receive first-round byes. The remaining teams will play first-round games on the campus of the better seeds.

In 2024, those first-round games will take place on Friday, Dec. 20 and Saturday, Dec. 21. One game will be played on Friday night with the other three taking place on Saturday — one in the early afternoon, one in the late afternoon and another in the evening.

Moving ahead, the quarterfinals will be played at bowl sites on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. The Fiesta Bowl will be played at night on New Year’s Eve (a Tuesday) with the Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl all being played on New Year’s Day (Wednesday).

From there, the semifinals will be played at the Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 and Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. The CFP title game will then be held at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Monday, Jan. 20.

With the 6 highest ranked Conference Champions getting an automatic bid and the PAC on the verge of collapse, we will likely see two non-power Conference teams with automatic bids in the playoffs hosting at-large picks from the big 5 Conferences...sorry big 4.

Just imagine Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan, Clemson or Georgia squeaking into the playoffs and rolling into Boise, Fresno or Troy for a first round playoff game.

Using current "new" conference alignments and last years final CFP rankings, the playoffs could look like this. 

1. (1) Georgia Bye SEC

2. (2) Michigan Bye B1G 

3. (3) TCU Bye B12

4. (7) Clemson Bye ACC

5. (14) Oregon St PAC host #12

6. (16) Tulane AAC host #11

7. (4) Ohio State B1G host #10

8. (5) Alabama SEC host #9

9. (6) Tennessee SEC at #8

10. (8) Utah B12 at #7

11. (9) Kansas St B12 at #6

12. (10) Southern Cal B1G at #5

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Penn State and Washington would have been the first two out.

 

 

 

Makes sense, but will tick Non-Power Conference teams off.

I'm tired of keeping up with this. We have unregulated entities trying to position themselves to best profit and it just seems to be running amok.... Wake me up in three years after this all shakes out.

My guess is Alabama, Georgia, and Ohio State will have good football teams.

I've always believed that the opening weekend of the NCAA tournament are the best 4 days in sports.  That 5 day stretch of CFP and NFL might be better.  wow

All this change to still play the title game on a Monday night? Dumb....

Play the title game on the same day that 98% of games are played, Saturday. 

2 hours ago, TheDeuce said:

All this change to still play the title game on a Monday night? Dumb....

Play the title game on the same day that 98% of games are played, Saturday. 

Don't have to compete with NFL on that Monday, would be my guess.

7 minutes ago, Jumper_Dad said:

Don't have to compete with NFL on that Monday, would be my guess.

I’m almost positive that’s the reason as well, but how many viewers are they losing playing at 9pm on Monday instead of 6pm on a Saturday?

23 minutes ago, TheDeuce said:

I’m almost positive that’s the reason as well, but how many viewers are they losing playing at 9pm on Monday instead of 6pm on a Saturday?

Millions? I've always understood that Friday and Saturday evening/nights are the least desirable time slots for television programming.... Especially when trying to span the country. You could also argue that football would transcend this.

30 minutes ago, TheDeuce said:

I’m almost positive that’s the reason as well, but how many viewers are they losing playing at 9pm on Monday instead of 6pm on a Saturday?

Must not be losing many, afterall the networks want the best ratings possible so they can charge more for ad time. They'd air it at 3 a.m. on a Wednesday morning if that's where the ratings were the best. 

So it looks like the 6 + 6 playoff model has been replaced by a 5 + 7 model. Meaning the 5 highest ranked conference champions will get automatic bids along with 7 at-large bids. The 4 highest ranked conference champions will all receive a first round bye.

I like the 5 + 7 model better with the current state of conferences.

7 minutes ago, Jumper_Dad said:

So it looks like the 6 + 6 playoff model has been replaced by a 5 + 7 model. Meaning the 5 highest ranked conference champions will get automatic bids along with 7 at-large bids. The 4 highest ranked conference champions will all receive a first round bye.

I like the 5 + 7 model better with the current state of conferences.

I was watching some long explanation of how this could come with some issues but I put it in the who cares box.

Why can't we just go with the top 12 teams period, or the top 16 period with no byes.  

52 minutes ago, theguru said:

I was watching some long explanation of how this could come with some issues but I put it in the who cares box.

Why can't we just go with the top 12 teams period, or the top 16 period with no byes.  

This deal is just for two years, I'd be willing to wager that after that it will be 16 teams with no byes.

SEC and Big 10 are having meeting this week to basically decide the immediate future of college football. Interested to see what comes out of those meetings.