Playoff confirms 5-7 format

[aubiefifty 16,781]

al.com

College Football Playoff confirms 5-7 format for 12-team CFP

Published: Feb. 20, 2024, 10:25 a.m.

2–3 minutes

The trophy is displays during media day ahead of the national championship NCAA College Football Playoff game between Washington and Michigan Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, in Houston. The game will played Monday. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vasquez) APAP

The College Football Playoff Board of Managers on Tuesday unanimously revised the qualifying criteria to the 5-7 format for the 12-team CFP.

The format now include the five highest-ranked conference champions, plus the next seven highest-ranked teams as determined by the CFP selection committee.

“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,” Dr. Mark Keenum, President of Mississippi State University and Chair of the CFP Board of Managers, said in a release. “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.”

The original plan called for the six highest-ranked conference champions, plus the next six highest-ranked teams.

The 12-team CFP debuts this upcoming season. The four highest-ranked conference champions will be seeded one through four, and each will receive a first-round bye. Teams five through 12 will play each other in the first round on the home field of the higher-ranked team. No. 5 hosts No. 12, while No. 6 will entertain No. 11. No. 7 will play team visiting No. 10, and No. 8 will host No. 9.

The quarterfinals and semifinals will be played in the New Year’s Six bowl games. The CFP national championship game will continue to be at a neutral site.

Per the CFP, no conference will qualify automatically, and there will be no limit on the number of participants from a conference.

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[Mikey 16,591]

Eight teams with no bye for anybody would have been a perfect number. All having 12 teams in the playoffs does is water the field down and hand a big advantage to the top four.  If the currently broken NIL and open transfer rules aren't doing enough to harm college football, we now have a Board of Managers to further foul things up. Sad times for the sport.

[JDUBB4AU 5,121]

8 hours ago, Mikey said:

Eight teams with no bye for anybody would have been a perfect number. All having 12 teams in the playoffs does is water the field down and hand a big advantage to the top four.  If the currently broken NIL and open transfer rules aren't doing enough to harm college football, we now have a Board of Managers to further foul things up. Sad times for the sport.

It’s never going to be perfect, but it’s much better than before. The bitching will almost disappear. This will reinvigorate bowl games to me. That’s just me though.

i just want AU to win . Damn 

[ScotsAU 1,329]

12 hours ago, Mikey said:

Eight teams with no bye for anybody would have been a perfect number. All having 12 teams in the playoffs does is water the field down and hand a big advantage to the top four.  If the currently broken NIL and open transfer rules aren't doing enough to harm college football, we now have a Board of Managers to further foul things up. Sad times for the sport.

Unfortunately there is no perfect number. If you truly want to triangulate on the best team in the country, we’d need to restructure the entire season as a playoff. And every team that plays would need to play home-away-neutral.  That won’t happen any time soon. 

[DAG 33,982]

They are already talking about expanding it to 14 teams . 

[AUpreacherman22 3,885]

This is a major improvement IMHO!

Every major conference champion gets in✅

Then you’ve got the top SEVEN at large teams in.

When that #13 team whines about not getting in, we’ll just laugh.   The only people with a gripe will be a lower conference team that might go undefeated and not finish in the top 12.  And those teams just aren’t good enough to play with the big boys.  There is way too much of a talent gap.   

[CoffeeTiger 5,108]

Not gonna lie. It'll be kind of nice to have more than 3 post season games that mean anything (the 2 semi final games and the championship). 

 

Yes, it lessens the importance of the big regular season games somewhat, but I don't think that's a terrible thing. The system right now lessens the regular season for 90% of college football teams who when they lose either their first or second game know they are automatically out of the 4 team playoff no matter what happens the rest of the season. 

[TitanTiger 20,481]

They didn't go far enough.  The Big XII is now a glorified G5 league.  They shouldn't be treated the same as the Big Ten, SEC and ACC with OU and Texas gone.

If I were doing it, there would be no automatic bids period.  Best 12 teams.  99% of the time, that will end up including the champions of all the major conferences and a highly ranked G5 team.  But there are those outlier years like when Wisconsin won the Big Ten with 5 losses.  Or West Virginia winning the Big East (considered a Power league at the time, pre CFP days) winning it with an 8-4 record.  Both lost their bowl games that year to finish 8-6 and 8-5 respectively.  Neither had any business getting a shot at a natty and taking that opportunity from someone else by virtue of their league being down and pulling off one upset.  College football is not like basketball and part of what makes it great is that regular season games have monumental importance.  If merely winning a crappy league gets you in, even with 4 losses, then its no better than the NFL.

[The Freak 2,528]

11 minutes ago, TitanTiger said:

They didn't go far enough.  The Big XII is now a glorified G5 league.  They shouldn't be treated the same as the Big Ten, SEC and ACC with OU and Texas gone.

If I were doing it, there would be no automatic bids period.  Best 12 teams.  99% of the time, that will end up including the champions of all the major conferences and a highly ranked G5 team.  But there are those outlier years like when Wisconsin won the Big Ten with 5 losses.  Or West Virginia winning the Big East (considered a Power league at the time, pre CFP days) winning it with an 8-4 record.  Both lost their bowl games that year to finish 8-6 and 8-5 respectively.  Neither had any business getting a shot at a natty and taking that opportunity from someone else by virtue of their league being down and pulling off one upset.  College football is not like basketball and part of what makes it great is that regular season games have monumental importance.  If merely winning a crappy league gets you in, even with 4 losses, then its no better than the NFL.

[woodford 3,655]

5 hours ago, CoffeeTiger said:

Not gonna lie. It'll be kind of nice to have more than 3 post season games that mean anything (the 2 semi final games and the championship). 

 

Yes, it lessens the importance of the big regular season games somewhat, but I don't think that's a terrible thing. The system right now lessens the regular season for 90% of college football teams who when they lose either their first or second game know they are automatically out of the 4 team playoff no matter what happens the rest of the season. 

That's what college football is though. ESPN is trying to replace that with a playoff which is just crazy IMO. CFB's best product is big time regular season games, and it always has been. What is the point of a casual tuning in on Saturday if they're going to play again or even a third time down the road? Football's greatest assets is its scarcity, they only play once a week and 12-13 times a year for most teams. The more games that are played the more it will get watered down. They're playing 12 regular season games, a CCG, and then 3-4 playoff games? 16-17 games? Why would you even play the regular season if you're future first rounder?

This is nothing but a cash grab by ESPN. They will not lean into the March Madness model that would actually be more entertaining. They have to give auto bids for anti-trust reasons if I had to guess. If the NCAA ran it and it was a 8+8 model with no conference championship games and 11 regular season games, I'd be down for that because the regular season would still mean everything.

"Doesn't matter if Auburn loses to Alabama, they should still get an at-large bid at 10-2 with the SOS" That is the attitude and mindset we're heading for and it's insane. I am a CFB purist and I think ESPN owning the postseason is a terrible idea.

 

This is not a personal attack on you I promise but the bolded italicized part of your post is pure ESPN propaganda. They tell you that your season is over the minute you lose a game and are "out of the playoff hunt" and that could not be further from the truth. Auburn had 5 losses heading into the IB and had we rushed the passer and won we win the IB. Would our season have been worthless? You tell me. You're the Auburn fan.

[NWALA Tiger 3,535]

17 hours ago, DAG said:

They are already talking about expanding it to 14 teams . 

They won't even see how the 12 teams work b4 wanting to tinker with it more. Wherever the 💰 is , that will be what they do

[yngwie1995 2,229]

I think 16 is better than 12. Not fair to give the Top 4 teams a week off. They'd already be getting the weakest matchups in the first round anyway, so make them play the games like everyone else. It's not like the NFL, where the Top 4 would be undisputed. College football rankings are too subjective.

[miscram6 134]

One of the things I love about the new model is that the first four games are played at the higher ranked team's home stadium.  This will educe a lot travel costs for some fans.  I also greatly hope I see the day that Alabama or Georgia has to travel to Michigan or Ohio or some other cold venue in the middle of winter. (Yes, I realize that could just as easily happen to Auburn.) 

[DAG 33,982]

This is silly.

According to sources, the model that's earned the most discussion coming out of the CFP meeting in Dallas is one that would include three automatic qualifier spots for the Big Ten and SEC, two for the Big 12 and ACC and one for the Group of Five. That would leave three at-large spots in that 14-team model.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/39619331/sources-14-team-college-football-playoff-momentum