The 2024-2025 College Football Playoff will look very different than it has in previous years, ushering in a new era of the CFP. In 2014, College Football started the four team playoff, after 15 years of the BCS system, where the top two teams in the nation played for College Football’s biggest prize. The four team playoff was composed of the four best teams in the nation, as determined by the CFP selection committee, and the four team playoff didn’t come without its fair share of controversy.
In 2022, the CFP committee announced that 2023 would be the last year of the four team format, and in 2024 the 12 team playoff will begin. It just so happened to be that the last year of the four team format caused the most controversy. The Florida State Seminoles were 13-0 in the regular season, and they won the ACC, but their star quarterback Jordan Travis broke his leg, and the backup quarterback Brock Glenn, did not play well in the ACC title game, or against Florida in the last week of the season. On the other side there was Alabama, who had just defeated the back-to-back defending national champions Georgia in the SEC championship game. The committee said that the four best teams should get in the playoff, and that begged the question, is Alabama better than Florida State in their current form? The committee thought so, and they picked Alabama as the number four seed, ousting Florida State, and sending them to the Orange Bowl where they were destroyed by Georgia 63-3.
On December 8th 2024, the CFP committee announced the participants in the playoff, as well as the times, location, and matchups that will be happening starting on December 21st. The four conference champions who secured byes were #1 Oregon, #2 Georgia, #3 Boise State, and #4 Arizona State. Clemson being the lowest ranked conference champion, got the #12 seed and will have to go on the road in the first round of the playoffs at #5 Texas. #6 Penn State will also host a game during the first round, as they will host #11 SMU, as well as #8 Ohio State hosting #9 Tennessee, and to round it all off, #7 Notre Dame will play #10 Indiana.
“To be honest I haven’t watched much Notre Dame football this year,” Ms. Lutzker, Geometry teacher, Notre Dame fan said. “I watched more Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, type games, so my expectations for us aren’t really high.”
The 12 team playoff has some fanbases excited, as we are getting to see some new faces in the playoff, with teams like Indiana, Arizona State, Boise State, Penn State, Tennessee, and SMU getting into the playoff for the first time. Then we have the powerhouses, such as Georgia, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Texas, Oregon, and Clemson, all teams who have made it to the dance before and are looking to do it again and become National Champions.
“Even though we didn’t win the big ten title, we have a good chance to win the national title with the way our bracket looks,” Colton Luczak, 10th, Penn State fan said. “My hopes for a national title are high, I think we will finally win it this year.”
