College Football Playoff Details

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This week, the final details for the 12-team 2024-25 college football playoffs were released.

-- The five highest-ranking conference champions will get automatic bids. That's not the champions of the five highest rated conferences, so a Liberty University could be invited on this basis, even though its conference overall isn't that strong. The Pac-12 is now the Pac-2, so its two remaining teams, Oregon State and Washington State will have to compete for at-large bids, as will Notre Dame.

-- The next seven highest-rated teams will also get at-large bids. There is no limit to how many bids any conference can receive.

-- The top four rated conference champions will get first-round byes. The remaining eight teams will play in the first round December 20 and 21 at the home fields of the higher seeded teams. The #5 conference champion will be seeded 12th unless it has a higher overall rating.

-- The quarterfinals will be held December 31 and January 1 at the Rose, Sugar, Peach, and Fiesta Bowls, with the host team playing at a bowl game with which it has traditionally been associated. Thus, the SEC champion will play at the Sugar Bowl and the Big 10 champion at the Rose Bowl.

-- The semifinals will be held January 9 and 10 (Thursday and Friday) at the Orange and Cotton Bowls. The championship will be January 20 in Atlanta.

-- Unlike the NFL playoffs, the field will not be reseeded after each round. So, if the #12 seed beats the #5 seed in the first round, it would not play the #1 seed in the quarterfinals, but the #4 seed.

-- The semifinal locations will rotate among the Big Six bowls each year, and the championship location will change. For 2025-26, the semifinals will be held at the Peach and Fiesta Bowls, with the championship in Miami.

-- With the SEC, Big 10, ACC, and Big 12 all having between 16 and 18 teams playing 8 or 9 game conference schedules without divisions anymore, ties for first and/or second place will be very likely, and the individual conference tiebreaker rules will determine which teams qualify for the conference championships.