College Football Playoff 2024: Breaking Down Bracket Format, Latest Bowl Predictions

The college football regular season is nearing its end, as this weekend will bring a plethora of conference championship games. College football, though, is far from over.

Bowl season is nearly upon us, as is the new, expanded playoffs. Selection day for this year's 12-team College Football Playoff is set to take place on Sunday, December 8. The opening round is scheduled to take place on December 20 and 21.

Here, you'll find a look at the complete playoff schedule and updated format, along with some predictions for the final field.

1. Oregon

2. Texas

3. Penn State

4. Notre Dame

5. Georgia

6. Ohio State

7. Tennessee

8. SMU

9. Indiana

10. Boise State

11. Alabama

12. Miami

13. Ole Miss

14. South Carolina

15. Arizona State

16. Iowa State

17. Clemson

18. BYU

19. Missouri

20. UNLV

21. Illinois

22. Syracuse

23. Colorado

24. Army

25. Memphis

When the College Football Playoff was first introduced in 2014, the idea was to ensure that the national champion would be decided by on-field play and not a committee.

While that plan has largely worked, it hasn't been entirely without controversy. The four-team, two-round format still left quality teams without a chance to play their way into a championship.

Last year, for example, the undefeated Florida State Seminoles were left out of the playoff, in part, because quarterback Jordan Travis had suffered a season-ending broken leg.

The field has been expanded to 12 teams this year in an effort to ensure that more teams get their shot. Of course, the opportunity for controversy still exists. We saw a bit of it this week when three-loss Alabama was ranked ahead of two-loss Miami in the latest CFP rankings.

"Really??" Miami athletic director Dan Radakovich posted on X.

While plenty of folks may be unhappy with the current rankings, things will change, likely significantly, after conference championship weekend. The selection committee is still responsible for determining the final field, but five conference champions will earn automatic bids.

The four highest-ranked conference champions will be ranked Nos. 1-4 and will receive first-round byes. The other eight teams will face off in the opening round in typical bracket fashion—with the fifth seed hosting the 12 seed and so forth.

As previously mentioned, the first round will take place on December 20 and 21. The quarterfinal round will take place on December 31 and January 1 and will consist of the Fiesta Bowl, Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl. The semifinal round (Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl Classic) will take place on January 9 and 10.

The College Football National Championship is scheduled for January 20 and will take place at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

December 20 and 21

No. 8 vs. No. 9, TBD

No. 5 vs. No. 12, TBD

No. 7 vs. No. 10, TBD

No. 6 vs. No. 11, TBD

December 31

Fiesta Bowl, 7:30 p.m. ET

January 1

Peach Bowl, 1 p.m. ET

Rose Bowl, 8 p.m. ET

Sugar Bowl, 8:45 p.m. ET

January 9

Orange Bowl,7:30 p.m. ET

January 10

Cotton Bowl, 7:30 p.m. ET

January 20

College Football Playoff National Championship, 7:30 p.m. ET

First Round Games

No. 12 Alabama at No. 5 Penn State

No. 9 Tennessee at No. 8 Ohio State

No. 11 Iowa State at No. 6 Notre Dame

No. 10 Indiana at No. 7 Georgia

Quarterfinals

Rose Bowl: No. 1: Oregon (Big Ten champion)

Sugar Bowl: No. 2 Texas (SEC champion)

Fiesta Bowl: No. 3: SMU (ACC Champion

Peach Bowl: No. 4: Boise State (Mountain West Champion)

We're focusing on the playoff bracket here, though it's worth noting that there will be 43 bowl games for Division 1 this year alone. Bleacher Report's David Kenyon recently provided a full bowl schedule breakdown with predictions, which can be found here.

As noted earlier, the four highest-ranked conference champions will receive first-round byes. The Big Ten, SEC and ACC champions are likely locks for three of the top four spots at this point. Whether the last bye goes to the Mountain West Champion or the Big-12 Champion will likely depend on who wins those matchups.

The prediction here is that SMU (currently ranked 8th) and Boise State (10th) win their respective championship games—over Clemson (No. 17) and UNLV (No. 20), respectively—to push the Big-12 champion into the first round.

A win by Clemson or UNLV, however, could potentially push Arizona State (No. 15) or Iowa State (No. 16) into the top four.

We'll also predict that Oregon and Texas retain the top two seeds by winning their respective conference championship games. Should Penn State (No. 3) win the Big Ten Championship or Georgia (No. 5) claim the SEC title, it could shake things up rather dramatically.

It's highly unlikely that ether Texas or Oregon would fall far with a loss, but it could potentially impact a team like Ohio State (No. 6)—the Buckeye's only two losses have come against Michigan and Oregon. If Oregon isn't considered a top-two team on Sunday, Ohio State could fall even further down the rankings—though probably not out of the playoff entirely.

There were already questions about Ohio State only falling four spots after losing to Michigan at home. The Buckeyes have struggled in their biggest rivalry recently, but losing to the unranked Wolverines was still somewhat surprising.

"I was in shock after the game, I really was," Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said, per Mitch Stacy of the Associated Press.

Alabama could potentially fall out of the bracket, though perhaps not as a result of the SEC Championship. The Crimson Tide didn't play Texas this year and has a September win over Georgia on its resume.

A Clemson win, for example, might push Alabama out. In that scenario, Clemson would earn an automatic bid, and the committee might choose to keep SMU in and push Alabama to a non-playoff bowl.

The CFP committee may also make some surprising decisions when it comes to the final seeding, though it's hard to envision any team not playing in a conference championship this weekend suddenly jumping into the mix.

"Any team that is not playing right now, we don't have a data point to rearrange where we have those teams ranked, and so that is set in terms of how we see them going into the final week of championship week," selection committee chair Warde Manuel told ESPN's Rece Davis.

The only way a team like Miami or Mississippi is likely to get in is with a massive blowout loss in a conference title game that drops a team out entirely. That would seem unlikely, though it certainly wouldn't mark the first time to CFP committee made a controversial decision.