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From just about the moment the College Football Playoff was born, expansion has been on the minds of many. A four-team field was never likely to stick, and formats with eight, 12 or even 16 teams have been floated for several years.
A decision was finally reached in 2022 to overhaul the playoff making the regular less cutthroat while opening up the field to great teams that lose a game or two along the way.
Expansion will be a welcomed development for programs such as Penn State, as the Nittany Lions have never made the four-team playoff but would have made an expanded field multiple times over the last decade. At the same time, the new format will still give some of the best conference champions an easier path to the title than lower seeds.
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When will expansion take effect? Here’s what you need to know about this year’s College Football Playoff format.
How many teams make the College Football Playoff this year?
Only four teams will make the College Football Playoff this year. This 2023 season is the final year with the four-team format, with the field set to expand to 12 in 2024.
For now, the playoff will be set up exactly as it has been since the 2014 season. The No. 1 seed, as decided by the selection committee, will face the No. 4 seed in the national semifinal, while the No. 2 seed will face the No. 3 seed. The playoff field will be revealed on Sunday, Dec. 3.
The Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl will serve as this season’s national semifinal bowls. Both will be played on Jan. 1.
In the future format, teams such as Washington and Florida State might already be fairly safe playoff teams. With only four teams in the mix, however, both the Huskies and Seminoles are fighting tooth-and-nail for a spot even after starting the season 10-0.
At the same time, the current four-team format leaves only a handful of teams even still in the mix for a playoff berth with mere weeks remaining in the regular season. The expanded format will keep more teams in the mix deeper into the season.
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College football playoff expansion in 2024
The College Football Playoff will expand to 12 teams for the 2024 season.
At this time next year, discussion surrounding the playoff will be dramatically different. Not many contenders have suffered losses since this season’s playoff rankings first began, so there hasn’t been much fanfare regarding new rankings each week. That figures to change in 2024, when 12 teams will make the field and even more will be in contention late in the regular season.
While the current format is decided entirely by the selection committee, teams will have a bit more control over their status next season. Originally, the format called for the top six conference champions plus six at-large selections to make the field. With the future of the Pac-12 in doubt, On3 reported in September that the committee is leaning toward amending the field to five conference champions and seven at-large programs.
Additionally, the top four conference champions will receive a bye to the quarterfinals. That means the top four playoff seeds must all be from different conferences. Michigan and Ohio State, for example, would not be able to both earn byes in the same year, nor would Georgia and Alabama.
All “New Year’s Six” bowls will be a part of the 12-team playoff, with first-round games played at home sites rather than as part of a bowl. No other bowl games will be part of the playoff.
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