REVEALED: New 12-team College Football Playoff format allows FIVE conference champs to advance to postseason automatically while seven schools will seek bids from committee

The College Football Playoff committee is expanding the postseason from four to 12 teams with a new format that ensures the five highest-ranking conference champions will all have a chance to play for a national title.

The committee made the decision official on Tuesday after another controversial postseason for college football. This year it was Florida State who was ostensibly snubbed from the four-team playoff despite going undefeated during the regular season. The Seminoles ultimately lost the Orange Bowl to sixth-ranked Georgia, 63-3, but that result didn’t do anything to stifle calls for a broader playoff system.

The new format, which will be implemented in 2024, includes four rounds. 

‘This is a very logical adjustment for the College Football Playoff based on the evolution of our conference structures since the board first adopted this new format in September 2022,’ said Dr. Mark Keenum, President of Mississippi State University and Chair of the CFP board. ‘I know this change will also be well received by student-athletes, coaches and fans. We all will be pleased to see this new format come to life on the field this postseason.’

Initially it looked as though six conference champions would secure automatic bids, but the committee backed away from that Tuesday.  

The move to decrease the number of spots reserved for conference champions from six to five was prompted by realignment and the disassembling of the Pac-12, and has been anticipated for several months. An expected vote last month was delayed at the Pac-12’s request.

The original plan for the 12-team format was to have the six highest-ranked conference champions, with the top four receiving first-round byes, and six at-large selections. 

But with one fewer power conference after the Pac-12’s demise, the commissioners who manage the CFP recommended to make the change from a 6-6 format to a 5-7.

No conference will have automatic access. Those five slots will go to the highest-ranked conference champs as determined by the CFP selection committee, ensuring at least one team from outside the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten, Big 12 and Southeastern Conference will make the 12-team field.

The selection committee’s rankings also will determine the seven at-large bids. There will be no limit to how many teams can come from the same league.

The coming season will be the first with a 12-team playoff after 10 years of it being a four-team event.

‘Under the 12-team playoff format that begins this fall, the four highest-ranked conference champions will be seeded one through four and each will receive a first-round bye, while teams seeded five through 12 will play each other in the first round on the home field of the higher-ranked team,’ reads the CFP release. 

‘(The team ranked #5 will host #12; team #6 will meet team #11; team #7 will play team #10; and team #8 will meet #9.) The quarterfinals and semifinals will be played in the New Year’s Six bowl games, the national championship game will continue to be at a neutral site. No conference will qualify automatically and there will be no limit on the number of participants from a conference.’