The College Football Playoff has always consisted of two Semifinals and one National Championship game. This year, everything changes; the field grows from four to 12 teams, the four conference champions earn a bye, and some teams even earn a home playoff game!
Last year on Selection Day Sunday, the CFP Selection Committee shattered the hearts of Florida State and Georgia fans when they announced that the Seminoles earned the No. 5 seed and the Bulldogs No. 6. The Seminoles were 13–0 and the 12–1 Bulldogs were the reigning CFP National Champions, so missing the playoffs in a year where both teams showed immense success shocked the fervid fans in Tallahassee and Athens. This year, the cutoff has been moved to 12, not four, ensuring that we will not have that problem again.
See below for the structure and application of seeding, bye weeks, and home games for this year’s College Football Playoff.
Four Conference Champions earn a bye.
The four conference champions will be seeded one through four and earn a bye. These four champions will be the winners of the SEC Championship, Big 10 Championship, Big 12 Championship, and ACC Championship. These four teams comprise the top four seeds in the playoff.
Seeds No. 5 – 8 earn a home playoff game.
Teams in the five through eight seeds will receive home playoff games in the first round, hosting teams seeded nine through twelve.
The remaining eight teams will be seeded based on their AP Top 25 ranking. If the fifth conference champion is ranked outside of the top 12, they will automatically secure the No. 12 seed. For example, Boise State would be the No. 12 seed if the playoff started today despite being ranked No. 15 in the AP Top 25 poll.
Of the remaining eight teams seeded No. 5 through 12, seeds 5, 6, 7, and 8 will host the first round of the playoffs in their home stadium – something college football has never had in its history.
Tiebreakers
If teams have the same record, the committee will seed each team using its tiebreaker system, which considers each team’s head-to-head matchups, record against common opponents, and overall strength of schedule.
The CFP committee will announce the final rankings on Selection Day. As such, the committee will not consider games played after Selection Day when finalizing their rankings.
Bracket Breakdown
In the Quarterfinals, the No. 1 seed will play the winner of the No. 8 vs. 9 game. The No. 2 seed will play the winner of the No. 7 vs. 10 game, and so on.
In the Semifinals, the winner of No. 1 vs. No. 8/9 will play the winner of No. 4 vs. No. 5/12, and the winner of No. 2 vs. No. 7/10 will play the winner of No. 3 vs. 6/11. The CFP committee will consider the No. 1 seed’s geographic proximity when determining the venue for the Semifinals.
The National Championship will be played in Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia between the winners of each Semifinal.
Predictions
Seeds No. 1–4: Conference Champions
Big 10: Oregon (No. 1 seed)
SEC: Georgia (No. 2 seed)
ACC: Miami (No. 3 seed)
Big 12: BYU (No. 4 seed)
Seeds No. 5–8: Home field recipients
Ohio State (No. 5 seed)
Texas (No. 6 seed)
Penn State (No. 7 seed)
Notre Dame (No. 8 seed)
Seeds No. 9–12
Indiana (No. 9 seed)
Tennessee (No. 10 seed)
Alabama (No. 11 seed)
Boise State (No. 12 seed)
First round:
No. 5 Ohio State beats No. 12 Boise State
No. 11 Alabama beats No. 6 Texas
No. 7 Penn State beats No. 10 Tennessee
No. 8 Notre Dame beats No. 9 Indiana
Second round:
No. 1 Oregon beats No. 8 Notre Dame
No. 2 Georgia beats No. 7 Penn State
No. 11 Alabama beats No. 3 Miami
No. 5 Ohio State beats No. 4 BYU
Semifinals:
No. 5 Ohio State over No. 1 Oregon
No. 2 Georgia over No. 11 Alabama
CFP National Championship: No. 2 Georgia over No. 5 Ohio State
Georgia: 33
Ohio State: 28
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