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How does CFP work? Explaining 12-team College Football Playoff schedule, predictions
Follow along as the College Football Playoff rankings are unveiled.
The wait is finally over. The postseason has arrived.
In just a few hours, the final College Football Playoff rankings will be announced and the field of 134 FBS programs will be cut down to the final 12, putting weeks of projections and predictions to rest.
This year's College Football Playoff, of course, is a first of its kind, as it is the first time that college football's postseason has expanded since its inception in 2014.
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Five spots have already been claimed heading into Sunday's final CFP rankings as Oregon, Georgia, Clemson, Arizona State and Boise State won their respective conference title games and will likely earn their way in as the five highest-ranked conference champions.
Here's what you need to know about the new College Football Playoff format, including how many teams will make it this year, how it will work, what bowl games will be included and more:
Watch the College Football Playoff rankings show live with Fubo
How many teams are in College Football Playoff?
For the first time in the College Football Playoff era, the CFP will include 12 teams. Prior to the CFP's expansion, it allowed only four teams in. The playoff's direct predecessor, the BCS, had just two teams.
What teams make the College Football Playoff?
The field will include five automatic qualifiers from the five highest conference champions and seven at-large bids.
How does College Football Playoff format work?
The expanded 12-team CFP field isn't the only new addition to the College Football Playoff.
The 2024-25 College Football Playoff will feature automatic qualifiers, at-large bids, first-round byes and campus playoff games — the last of which can become quite the advantage for the four at-large teams that will host a first-round game.
The four highest-ranked conference champions will be seeded 1-4 and be given a first-round bye. The fifth-highest-ranked conference champion will receive the final automatic bid. One important note with this is that if the fifth champion isn't included in the top 12 of the CFP top 25 on Sunday, it will be slotted in as the No. 12 seed.
The remainder of the 12-team field will be comprised of seven at-large teams. Seeds 5-8 will host a first-round home game against seeds 9-12, respectively, on campus (or at another location of their choosing).
No. 5 will host No. 12; No. 6 will host No. 11; No. 7 will host No. 10; while No. 8 will host No. 9 in the first-round.
Following the first-round games, there will be no "re-seeding" to the bracket. This means No. 1 will play the winner of the No. 8/No. 9 game; No. 2 will play No. 7/No. 10; No. 3 will play No. 6/No. 11 and No. 4 will play No. 5/No. 12.
Of note: The selection committee also will not make special arrangements to avoid conference matchups or regular-season rematches in the playoff. Moreover, the committee will assign bowl games based on seeding and historic conference ties.
For example, if a Big Ten team were to finish No. 1 in the standings, it would be slotted to the Rose Bowl in its quarterfinal game. If the SEC was No. 2, it would receive the Sugar Bowl, and so on.
REQUIRED READING: College Football Playoff projections: CFP bracket predictions for 12-team field after Championship Week
College Football Playoff schedule
The 2024-25 College Football Playoff will start on Friday, Dec. 20, with one of four first-round games. The remaining three first-round games will take place on Saturday, Dec. 21.
Following a 10-day hiatus, the CFP will resume with the quarterfinals on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. The four quarterfinal games will be played at the site of the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona; the Peach Bowl in Atlanta; the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California; and the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.
The two semifinal games will take place on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 at Hard Rock Stadium (Orange Bowl) in Miami Gardens, Florida and Friday, Jan. 10 at AT&T Stadium (Cotton Bowl) in Arlington, Texas.
The CFP will then conclude with the national championship game on Monday, Jan. 20 at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Here's a full look at the CFP schedule for this season:
First round (campus site games)
Friday, Dec. 20, 2024: One game
Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024: Three games
Quarterfinals
Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024: Fiesta Bowl (State Farm Stadium — Glendale, Arizona)
Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025: Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (Mercedes-Benz Stadium — Atlanta), Rose Bowl Game (Rose Bowl — Pasadena, California) and Allstate Sugar Bowl (Caesars Superdome — New Orleans)
Semifinals
Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025: Capital One Orange Bowl (Hard Rock Stadium — Miami)
Friday, Jan. 10, 2025: Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic (AT&T Stadium — Arlington, Texas)
National championship
Monday, Jan. 20, 2025: Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta)
What bowl games are in the CFP?
The 2024-25 College Football Playoff will consist of the Fiesta, Peach, Rose and Sugar Bowls in the quarterfinals — with the No. 1 team owning the right to pick which of the four sites they want to play at. The CFP semifinals will be played at the Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl.
Here's a full breakdown at which bowl games will be part of the College Football Playoff this year:
Quarterfinals: Vrbo Fiesta Bowl, Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl Game and Allstate Sugar Bowl
Semifinals: Capital One Orange Bowl and Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic
CFP rankings projections, predictions
Here's a look at where Big Ten teams were projected in the latest USA Today CFP projections after Championship Saturday:
USA Today
Oregon (13-0)*
Georgia (11-2)*
Boise State (12-1)*
Arizona State (11-2)*
Notre Dame (11-1)
Texas (11-2)
Ohio State (10-2)
Penn State (11-1)
Tennessee (10-2)
Indiana (11-1)
SMU (11-2)
Clemson (10-3)**
* Denotes first-round bye and automatic bid
** Denotes automatic entry
When do College Football Playoff rankings out?
The final College Football Playoff rankings will come out at noon ET on Sunday, Dec. 8.
Watch CFP rankings show live with Fubo
How to watch College Football Playoff rankings show
The final College Football Playoff rankings will be broadcast nationally on ESPN. Streaming options for the CFP rankings include the ESPN app (by logging in with your TV provider credentials), ESPN+, ESPN's subscription streaming service, and Fubo, which carries the ESPN family of networks.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: New CFP format, explained: How 12-team College Football Playoff works
