The College Football Playoff (CFP) is the culmination of this season of college football, a sport increasingly influenced by money and power, as Casey McMenamin and I wrote last year. The CFP began its current form in 2014 with a four-team field, replacing the Bowl Championship Series in which the top two teams played in one of the New Year’s Six bowls (Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Peach Bowl and Fiesta Bowl).
The current CFP consists of a 12-team bracket. A 13-member committee of former coaches, players, athletic directors, and journalists determines the rankings. The five highest-ranked conference champions receive automatic bids, while the next seven highest-ranked teams receive at-large bids. The first round features the No. 5 through No. 12 seeds playing at the higher seed’s home field. Winners advance to play the top four seeds, who received byes, in classic New Year’s Six bowl games. The quarterfinals and semifinals rotate among these bowls, culminating in the National Championship. This year, the title game takes place in Miami at Hard Rock Stadium.
The Big Ten and Southeastern Conference (SEC) continue to dominate, fielding three Big Ten teams (Indiana, Ohio State and Oregon) and five SEC teams (Alabama, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Georgia). They are followed by one from the Big 12 (Texas Tech), one from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) (Miami) and two from Group of Five (G5) leagues (James Madison and Tulane).
At the top of the bracket, Indiana, having jumped from No. 2 seed after a 13-10 win over Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship, will play the winner of No. 8 Oklahoma and No. 9 Alabama. Alabama fell to No. 9 seed after a 28-7 loss to Georgia in the SEC Championship. No. 2 seed Ohio State will play the winner of Texas A&M and Miami. Texas A&M, previously projected for a bye, fell to No. 7 seed after a regular season loss to Texas knocked them out of SEC title contention.
SEC Champion and No. 3 seed Georgia takes on the winner of No. 6 seed Ole Miss and No. 11 seed Tulane. Both lower seeds lost their head coaches: Lane Kiffin left Ole Miss for LSU in dramatic fashion while Jon Sumrall left Tulane for Florida more cordially. While Ole Miss barred Kiffin from coaching the playoffs, Sumrall will remain with his team for the rest of this season. See Henry France and Casey McMenamin’s article in The Miscellany News for more on the Kiffin drama.
Finally, Big 12 Champion and No. 4 seed Texas Tech faces the winner of No. 5 seed Oregon and No. 12 seed James Madison. The Red Raiders solidified their bye with a decisive win over BYU.
Selection Day rarely passes without controversy. In 2023, an undefeated Florida State was left out in favor of Alabama, solidifying the push for the 12-team expansion. While excluding an undefeated G5 team was not unheard of (such as UCF in 2017), snubbing an undefeated Power Five champion was unprecedented.
This year, drama centered on the committee choosing between Miami, Alabama and Notre Dame for two at-large bids. As an independent school, Notre Dame faces unique scrutiny; they play no conference championship. The Irish were ranked ahead of Miami for most of the season despite a Week 2 head-to-head loss, largely because Miami suffered two upsets in a cannibalized ACC. Alabama, despite losing the SEC Championship, boasted wins over Vanderbilt and Georgia. Their resume was complicated by losses to Oklahoma and a 5-7 Florida State their first game. Ultimately, the committee excluded Notre Dame, sparking calls for further expansion.
The ACC Championship featured two preseason unranked opponents: No. 17 ranked Virginia (10-2) and unranked Duke (7-5). Duke’s overtime upset ensured no ACC team received an automatic bid. Many speculated the conference might be left out entirely, a historic catastrophe avoided only by Miami’s at-large entry.
While we will not have a crowned champion until Jan. 19, we can rest easy knowing that this CFP has already delivered an audience of entertainment, and the games have not even begun.