Note: The following appears in the Stanford football gameday program.
College football is in a new era in 2024, and the expansion of the College Football Playoff to a 12-team, single-elimination tournament is the biggest development. We thought it would be appropriate to give our fans a rundown on how the playoff works, who picks the teams and Clemson’s history in the event.
HOW THE CFP WORKS
• The 12 participating teams are the four power-conference champions ranked by the CFP selection committee, plus the next eight highest-ranked teams, with the highest-ranked, non-power-conference team guaranteed a bid.
• The ranking of the teams continues to be voted on by a 13-member selection committee.
• The four highest-ranked conference champions are seeded 1-4 and receive a first-round bye. The highest-ranked, non-power-conference champion is seeded where it was ranked or at No. 12 if it is outside the top 12. Non-conference champions ranked in the top four are seeded beginning at No. 5. Because of this, the seedings (1-12) could differ from the final ranking.
• An example of this would have taken place in 2022, when Clemson won the ACC title, but was the No. 7 team in the final CFP ranking after the conference championship games. Clemson would have been the No. 3 seed in CFP that season under the rules this year.
• The eight teams seeded 5-12 play in a first-round game, with the higher seeds hosting the lower seeds either on campus or at other sites designated by the higher-seeded institution (No. 12 at No. 5, No. 11 at No. 6, No. 10 at No. 7, No. 9 at No. 8.). There is one first-round game on Dec. 20 and three first-round games on Dec. 21.
• The selection committee assigns the four highest-ranked conference champions to quarterfinals hosted by bowls. This is done in consideration of historic bowl relationships, then in consideration of rankings. For example, if the Sugar Bowl hosts a quarterfinal, the SEC champion is ranked No. 1 and the Big 12 Conference champion is ranked No. 3, the SEC champion would be assigned to the Sugar Bowl and the Big 12 Conference champion would be assigned elsewhere.
• With the four highest-ranked league champions assigned to bowls, their four quarterfinal foes are dictated by the bracket (No. 1 vs. No. 8/9 winner, No. 4 vs. No. 5/12 winner, No. 2 vs. 7/10 winner, No. 3 vs. 6/11 winner).
• The CFP bracket follows the selection committee’s rankings, with no modifications made to avoid rematches between teams that…