OVERVIEW
The College Football Playoff (CFP) is a postseason event to determine college football’s national champion on the field, while emphasizing the significance of college football’s unique regular season where every game counts.
RANKINGS
The selection committee ranks the schools based on the members’ evaluation of their performance on the field, using strength of schedule, head-to-head results, and comparison of results against common opponents.
THE BRACKET
The format of the College Football Playoff is built on a 12-team bracket. The 12 participating schools are the conference champions from the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten Conference, Big 12 Conference, Southeastern Conference and the highest-ranked team from the American, Conference USA, Mid-American Conference, Mountain West, Pac-12 Conference and Sun Belt Conference, along with the next seven highest-ranked teams. The University of Notre Dame will be included in the playoff if it is ranked among the top 12 teams in the final rankings. The four highest-ranked schools will be seeded 1-4 and will receive a first-round bye. The remaining teams will be seeded 5-12 based on their final ranking. If any of the automatic qualifiers is not ranked in the top 25, the committee will evaluate the team(s) using its established selection criteria and determine their relative positions for seeding purposes, and then seed them at the bottom of the 12-team pool.
TRADITION
The New Year’s holiday period and bowl games belong to college football. This season following the CFP first-round games on campus, the four CFP Quarterfinal games will be played in the Fiesta Bowl on Wednesday, Dec. 30, and the Cotton Bowl Classic, Peach Bowl and Rose Bowl Game on New Year’s Day. The following week, the Orange Bowl and Sugar Bowl will host the CFP Semifinals.
CHAMPIONSHIP MONDAY
The two teams that win the CFP Semifinals compete for the College Football Playoff National Championship. The national championship game is in a different city each year, always on a Monday night.
UNIVERSAL ACCESS
Every Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) team has equal access to the College Football Playoff based on its performance during the regular season. No team automatically qualifies.
GOVERNANCE
University presidents and chancellors from all 10 FBS conferences and Notre Dame serve as the board of managers and govern the administrative operations, with commissioners and Notre Dame athletics director (the Management Committee) managing the event. A small staff in the CFP office in Irving, Texas, carries out the day-to-day responsibilities.
SELECTION COMMITTEE
A talented group of 13 high-integrity individuals with experience as coaches, student-athletes, college administrators and journalists, along with sitting athletics directors, comprise the selection committee. Members of the committee are Troy Dannen, Mark Dantonio, Mark Harlan, Dr. Bryan Maggard, Ivan Maisel, Gus Malzahn, Chris Massaro, Randall McDaniel, Mike Riley, Jeff Tedford, Wesley Walls, Carla Williams and Hunter Yurachek (chair).
SELECTION COMMITTEE RESPONSIBILITIES
- Rank the top 25 teams and assign the schools to the 12-team playoff bracket.
