You asked, and it is being delivered. After years of frustration with the NCAA football playoff structure, it has finally been expanded and will now include 12 teams.
The excitement begins this weekend when many of the automatic births will be decided. The five highest-ranked conference champions will receive automatic bids. The Boise State Mustangs notched the first automatic bid with a 21-7 win Friday night over UNLV in the Mountain West championship game.
Here is how the new playoffs are structured. The four highest-ranked conference champions will be seeded Nos. 1-4 and receive a first-round bye. Seeds 5-12 will play each other in the first round. The higher-seeded teams will play host in their first round games. Here’s a breakdown of the first round matchups:
- No. 5 vs. No. 12
- No. 6 vs. No. 11
- No. 7 vs. No. 10
- No. 8 vs. No. 9
New Year’s Six bowl games will be introduced in the quarterfinal round. The semifinals will be played in bowls on a rotating basis while the national championship host site is determined through bids by prospective host sites.
Here are the playoff games today:
Big 12 Championship in Arlington, TX: #16 Iowa State (10-2) vs. #15 Arizona State (10-2)
SEC Championship in Atlanta, GA: #5 Georgia (10-2) vs. #2 Texas (11-1)
Big Ten Championship in Indianapolis, IN: #3 Penn State (11-1) vs. #1 Oregon (12-0)
ACC Championship in Charlotte, NC: #17 Clemson (9-3) vs. #8 SMU (11-1)
The current rankings will come into play depending on which team wins their respective conference championships. These are the Playoff Committee’s current rankings going into today’s conference championships:
1. Oregon (12-0)
2. Texas (11-1)
3. Penn State (11-1)
4. Notre Dame (11-1)
5. Georgia (10-2)
6. Ohio State (10-2)
7. Tennessee (10-2)
8. SMU (11-1)
9. Indiana (11-1)
10. Boise State (11-1)
11. Alabama (9-3)
12. Miami (10-2)
13. Ole Miss (9-3)
14. South Carolina (9-3)
15. Arizona State (10-2)
16. Iowa State (10-2)
17. Clemson (9-3)
Who gets in and who gets left out. A team that the Playoff Committee ranks in the top 12 can still get left out, because one or more of the 5 highest ranked conference champions, who automatically get in, are ranked below 12. That is the situation for #15 Arizona State, #16 Iowa State, and #17 Clemson. If one or more of these teams gets in, they will bump out a team ranked in the top 12.
On Monday morning the arguments will then begin on the IN and the OUT teams. Its the new system perfect? No. Is it better than the four team playoffs. For sure.
