How the 12-team College Football Playoff will work: Rules, dates, more

The new 12-team playoff format will feature the five highest-ranked conference champions alongside the next seven highest-ranked teams.

There is no cap on how many teams from a single conference can qualify, and no specific conference is guaranteed a spot. However, champions from the Big 12, SEC, ACC, and Big Ten are likely to qualify regularly, along with the top-ranked champion from conferences such as the Mountain West, American Athletic Conference, Sun Belt, Mid-American Conference, or Conference USA.

Interestingly, there is no minimum ranking requirement for the five highest-ranked conference champions. This means that a conference champion ranked as low as No. 23 could secure a playoff spot, potentially displacing the committee's No. 12 ranked team.

The top four teams will be seeded Nos. 1-4 and also receive a first-round bye to the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, the remaining eight teams will face off in the opening round, with the higher-seeded teams hosting the lower-seeded ones, either on their home campuses or at other locations chosen by the higher-seeded team.

This setup means that any team missing out on a first-round bye will need to win four consecutive games to claim the national championship. If a team loses its conference championship but still plays in all four playoff rounds, it would face an unprecedented 17-game season.

Independent programs like Notre Dame cannot receive a first-round bye since they do not compete for a conference title. This rule also applies to the two remaining Pac-12 schools, Washington State and Oregon State, which have a temporary scheduling arrangement with the Mountain West. While they can vie for the national championship, they are ineligible to win the MWC and do not form a league of their own according to NCAA and CFP regulations.

The final ranking will be released on Dec. 8. Once the teams are seeded on Selection Day, those seeds will be final, and there will be no reseeding.

It's important not to mix up the seeding with the rankings provided by the selection committee. The 13-member committee (comprising six former coaches and players in the group) will still continue to release its weekly top 25, which will be used to recognize the highest-ranked conference champions. For instance, if Georgia wins the SEC and is ranked No. 1 by the committee, while Alabama, ranked No. 3 or even No. 2, loses that game, the Crimson Tide will be seeded No. 5, falling behind Georgia and three other conference champions.

The selection committee will begin releasing its rankings on November 5, with six total announcements scheduled. Committee members will meet in person on Mondays and Tuesdays, and the rankings will be unveiled weekly on ESPN.

The final rankings for the 2024 season will be announced on Selection Day, Sunday, December 8. During this time, the committee will also reveal the 12-team playoff bracket and game locations.

Here is the complete schedule for the rankings announcements on ESPN:

*Note: The November 12 time slot may vary depending on scheduling.

The New Year's Six bowl games, comprising the Rose, Orange, Sugar, Cotton, Fiesta, and Peach Bowls, will continue to be an integral part of the College Football Playoff (CFP) moving forward. In the new 12-team format, the selection committee will assign the four highest-ranked conference champions to four of these bowls on Selection Day, immediately after the playoff bracket has been determined. These teams will be slotted with consideration of traditional bowl relationships and seeding.

The No. 1 seed will be granted preferential treatment for its Playoff Semifinal bowl assignment and will not be placed at a disadvantage. Historically, the Sugar Bowl has maintained contractual agreements with the SEC and Big 12, while the Rose Bowl has a longstanding relationship with the Big Ten (or Washington State and Oregon State from the remnants of the Pac-12).

This year, the Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl will each host a semifinal game. The remaining four bowls will serve as quarterfinal venues, with the winners advancing to the semifinals the following week.