Here's how the 12-team College Football Playoff works

The wait is finally over. The offseason is here.

In just a few hours, the final College Football Playoff rankings will be announced and the field of 134 FBS programs will be whittled down to the final 12, wiping out weeks of projections and predictions.

This year’s College Football Playoff is, of course, a first of its kind, as it marks the first time that college football’s postseason has been expanded since its inception in 2014.

Required reading:Georgia leads college football’s winners and losers heading into championship weekend as the playoffs are settled

Five spots have already been secured for Sunday’s final CFP rankings, as Oregon, Georgia, Clemson, Arizona State and Boise State won their respective conference title games and will likely fight their way to the top five ranked conference champions.

Here’s everything you need to know about the new College Football Playoff format, including how many teams will make it this year, how it will work, which bowl games will be included, and more:

Watch the College Football Playoff rankings live with Fubo

How many teams participate in the College Football Playoff?

For the first time in the College Football Playoff era, the CFP will feature 12 teams. Before the CFP expansion, only four teams were eligible. The playoffs’ direct predecessor, the BCS, only had two teams.

Which teams make the College Football Playoff?

The field includes five automatic qualifiers from the top five conference champions and seven overall contenders.

How does the 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 latter of which can be quite an advantage for the four at-large teams that host a first-round game.

The four top-ranked conference champions will be seeded 1-4 and receive a bye in the first round. The fifth highest ranked conference champion receives the final automatic bid. An important note here is that if the fifth champion is not ranked in the top 12 of the CFP Top 25 on Sunday, he will be seeded No. 12.

The rest of the 12-team field will consist of seven major teams. Seeds 5-8 will host a first-round home game against seeds 9-12 on campus (or 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.

There will be no re-seeding for the group following the first round games. This means No. 1 against the winner No. 8/No. will play. 9 game; No. 2 plays No. 7/No. 10; No. 3 plays No. 6/No. 11 and No. 4 play No. 5/No. 12.

Of note: The selection committee also will not make any special arrangements to avoid regular-season conference games or return games in the playoffs. Additionally, the committee will assign bowl games based on seedings and historical conference ties.

For example, if a Big Ten team were ranked No. 1 overall, it would be entered into the Rose Bowl in its quarterfinal game. If the SEC was No. 2, it would get the Sugar Bowl and so on.

Required reading:College Football Playoff Predictions: CFP bracket predictions for the 12-team field after championship week

College football playoff schedule

The 2024-25 College Football Playoff begins Friday, December 20, with one of four first-round games. The remaining three first round games will take place on Saturday, December 21st.

After a ten-day break, the CFP will resume with quarterfinals on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. The four quarterfinal games will be played at the Fiesta Bowl site 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, January 9, 2025, at Hard Rock Stadium (Orange Bowl) in Miami Gardens, Florida and on Friday, January 10, at AT&T Stadium (Cotton Bowl) in Arlington, Texas.

The CFP then concludes with the national championship game on Monday, January 20th at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

Here’s a complete look at the CFP schedule for this season:

First round (campus games)

Friday, December 20, 2024: A game
Saturday, December 21, 2024: Three games

Quarterfinals

Tuesday, December 31, 2024: Fiesta Bowl (State Farm Stadium – Glendale, Arizona)
Wednesday, January 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, January 9, 2025: Capital One Orange Bowl (Hard Rock Stadium – Miami)
Friday, January 10, 2025: Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic (AT&T Stadium – Arlington, Texas)

National Championship

Monday, January 20, 2025: Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta)

What bowl games are there in the CFP?

The 2024-25 College Football Playoff will feature the Fiesta, Peach, Rose and Sugar Bowl teams in the quarterfinals – with the No. 1 team having the right to choose which of the four venues it would like to play. The CFP semifinals will be played in the Orange Bowl and the Cotton Bowl.

Here’s a complete breakdown of 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 Predictions and Projections

Here’s a look at where the Big Ten teams were projected to be in USA Today’s latest CFP predictions after championship Saturday:

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 will the College Football Playoff rankings be released?

The final College Football Playoff rankings will be released on Sunday, December 8th at 12:00 p.m. ET.

Watch the CFP rankings show live with Fubo

Here’s how to see the College Football Playoff rankings

Date: Sunday December 8th
Time: Noon ET
TV channel: ESPN
Streaming options: ESPN app | ESPN+ | Fubo

The final College Football Playoff rankings will be broadcast nationally on ESPN. Streaming options for the CFP Rankings include the ESPN app (by signing in with your TV provider credentials), ESPN+, ESPN’s subscription streaming service, and Fubo, which operates the ESPN family of networks.

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Here’s how the 12-team College Football Playoff works

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