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Heather Dinich, ESPN senior writer
College football has changed how champions are determined for the first time in a decade, and if you're living off the grid, the field is set to expand from four teams to 12 in the fall of 2024.
According to the College Football Playoff, the 13-member selection committee will still exist and its mission will remain essentially the same as before.
“The selection committee's task will be to choose the best team, rank the teams for participation in the playoffs and other selected bowl games, and then assign each team to a venue.”
Here's everything you need to know about how it actually works.
Who will make it to the College Football Playoff?
The top five conference champions and the next seven best teams qualify in a 12-team bracket. There is no limit to the number of teams that can qualify from a conference, and the rule does not guarantee a berth for any particular conference. However, the champions of the Big 12, SEC, ACC and Big Ten are all but guaranteed berths, along with the highest-ranked champions from the Mountain West, American Athletic Conference, Sun Belt, Mid-American Conference and Conference USA.
There is no minimum ranking requirement for the top five conference champions: for example, a 23rd-place conference champion, the fifth-highest ranking among league winners, could earn a playoff berth at the expense of the committee's 12th-place team.
How does seeding work?
The top four conference winners would be the top four seeds and receive first-round byes. The remaining eight teams would play in the first round, with the higher seed hosting the lower seed on campus or “at such other venue as designated by the higher-seeded institution.”
That means any team that doesn't get the luxury of a first-round exemption would have to win four straight games to win the national championship. If a team loses its conference championship game and plays four straight games in the playoffs, it would play an unprecedented 17 games total.
Be careful not to confuse the seeding order with the selection committee rankings: The 13-member committee will still release a Top 25 each week and use that to determine the highest-ranked conference champion, but this means that if Georgia wins the SEC and is ranked No. 1 by the selection committee and Alabama loses that game and finishes third or even second in the CFP rankings, the Tide would be seeded fifth behind the other three conference champions and Georgia.
(Read it again.)
Independent teams like Notre Dame can't get a first-round exemption because they can't win a conference title. That also applies to Washington State and Oregon State, who have tentative schedule arrangements with Mountain West schools and can play in national championship games but aren't eligible to win the MWC and don't form their own league due to NCAA and CFP rules.
Once teams are seeded on Selection Day, that seeding is final and there will be no reseeding.
What about a rematch?
No changes will be made to avoid rematches or games between schools in the same conference.
How do brackets work?
1st Round (all home games)
Friday, December 20th and Saturday, December 21st
The 12th seed becomes the 5th seed.
9th seed becomes 8th seed
The 11th seed becomes the 6th seed.
10th seed becomes 7th seed
Quarter finals
Tuesday, December 31 and Wednesday, January 1, 2025
The No. 4 seed will face the winner of the No. 12 and No. 5 seeds.
The No. 1 seed will play the winner of the No. 9 and No. 8 seeds.
The No. 3 seed will play the winner of the No. 11 and No. 6 seeds.
The No. 2 seed will play the winner of the No. 10 seed, with the No. 7 seed winning.
Semi-finals
Thursday, January 9, 2025: Capital One Orange Bowl (evening)
Friday, January 10, 2025: Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic (evening)
CFP National Championship
Monday, January 20, 2025: Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta
What should I know about the selection committee?
The group includes six former coaches and players, six current athletic directors representing seven conferences (including one from each of the Power 4 leagues) and one former sportswriter.
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Michigan State Athletic Commissioner Ward Manuel (Chairman)
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Nevada coach Chris Ault
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Chet Gladchak, Chief of Naval Sports
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Former Wake Forest University coach Jim Grove
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Miami (Ohio) athletic director David Saylor
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Kelly Whiteside, former sportswriter
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Former All-American Nebraska lineman Will Shields
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Former University of Toledo and University of Missouri coach Gary Pinkel
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Mack Rose, Baylor University athletic director
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Virginia athletic director Carla Williams
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Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek
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Former Oregon State and Nebraska coach Mike Riley
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Former Arizona State All-American guard Randall McDaniel
How long is the term? Committee members serve a three-year term.
When do they meet? Committee members will meet every Monday and Tuesday morning to determine the rankings for a six-week period starting Nov. 5.
What are their protocols? If the situation indicates that the teams are comparable, committee members should consider the following:
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Championships won
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Schedule strength
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Head-to-head
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Comparison of results against common opponents (does not promote winning margins)
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Other relevant factors, such as the absence of key players or coaches, that may have affected the team's performance during the season or that could affect its postseason performance
These factors are not weighted, and individual committee members may place more value on one factor than the person sitting next to them.
What is their decline policy?
A committee member will recuse himself/herself if he/she or any member of his/her immediate family (a) receives compensation from the school, (b) provides professional services to the school, or (c) is a coach, administrative staff member, or player at the school. A committee member who recuses himself/herself may not vote for those teams and may only answer factual questions regarding those schools. A committee member who recuses himself/herself may not be present during deliberations regarding the selection or seeding of that team or participate in any discussions regarding which bowl game that team will be assigned to.
How does voting work?
Voting is done electronically on members' personal laptops and is a secret ballot. No one in the room knows the results of the votes of the members unless the other members choose to share the results of their vote. Voting typically consists of about seven rounds of voting. Voters start with a small number of teams and rank them, then split the top teams into groups of three or four teams and place them on the rankings. This process is repeated until 25 teams are ranked.
What metrics are they using?
There is no single criterion for ranking one team higher than another. Instead, committee members subjectively analyze a wealth of statistical data available from a company called SportSource Analytics. Each FBS team has a “team sheet” that lists their stats, strength of schedule, and situational record (e.g., 3-1 against the current CFP Top 25 teams). There are rankings for offense, defense, special teams, and efficiency.
How are teams assigned to bowl games?
The New Year's Six bowl games (Rose, Orange, Sugar, Cotton, Fiesta and Peach Bowls) are still part of the CFP. For the quarterfinals, on Selection Day, immediately after the brackets are set, a committee assigns the top four conference champions to the four bowls. These teams are assigned based on past bowl game affiliations and seeding order.
No. 1 seeds receive bowl berth preferential treatment and aren't at a geographic disadvantage, and while the Sugar Bowl recently struck an agreement with the SEC and Big 12, Rose maintains ties with the Big Ten (or Washington and Oregon from the rest of the Pac-12).
The Orange will host the semifinals this year along with the Cotton Bowl.
When is the ranking?
The selection committee will release the first of six rankings on Nov. 5. Rankings will be released every Tuesday thereafter.
The final rankings will be announced on December 8th.
When are the College Football Playoff games?
Round 1 (on campus)
Friday, December 20, 2024: 1 match (evening)
Saturday, December 21, 2024: 3 matches (early afternoon, late afternoon, evening)
Quarter finals
Tuesday, December 31, 2024: Vrbo Fiesta Bowl (Evening)
Wednesday, January 1, 2025: Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (early afternoon), Rose Bowl Game (late afternoon), Allstate Sugar Bowl (evening).
Semi-finals
Thursday, January 9, 2025: Capital One Orange Bowl (evening)
Friday, January 10, 2025: Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic (evening)
CFP National Championship
Monday, January 20, 2025: Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta
