I'm seeing a lot of misinformation on this in other threads, so I think it was worthy of its own thread to get everything out there. Here's how the 12 team playoffs will work.
1. The CFP committee will rank the top 25 teams as it has always done.
2. The top four conference champions will be seeds 1-4. The fifth highest-ranked conference champion is also guaranteed a spot in the playoff, but it will be seeded naturally without any preference like the top 4 teams.
3. The teams will then be placed into the bracket based on their ranking by the CFP committee.
4. The top four seeds will get a bye and will be assigned to a bowl. This will be done, generally, based on bowl tie ins. This year, for example, the quarterfinals will be the Sugar, Rose, Fiesta, and CFA Peach Bowl. So, likely if your top four seeds are from P4 conferences, the SEC Champ will be placed in the Sugar, Big 10 champ to Rose, Big 12 champ to Fiesta, and ACC champ to the Peach.
5. Seeds 5-8 host a home playoff game in the first round against seeds 9-12.
FAQS
1. So what if we're #1 but don't play in the SECCG? Then we will likely be the #5 seed and host a home playoff game. We cannot get a top 4 seed in that situation.
2. Can Notre Dame get a bye? Nope, not unless they join and win a conference.
3. Does the SEC Champion have an automatic bid? Not necessarily! You have to be one of the top 5 ranked conference champs to get a bye. For example, in 2020, there were 5 conference champions ranked higher than Oregon which won the Pac 12. In theory, the Sun Belt, AAC, MAC, Mountain West, and Conference USA could all get automatic bids in the same year.
4. So how would the playoff look as of today? Great question! Here it is using the AP rankings and current conference standings (note: Clemson and BYU have one more conference win than Miami and Iowa State, thus they'd be "conference champions" if the season ended today):
1. Oregon - Rose Bowl
2. BYU - Fiesta
3. TAMU - Sugar
4. Clemson - Peach Bowl
12 Boise State @5 UGA
11 Notre Dame @ 6 Penn State
10 Tennessee @7 Ohio State
9 Texas @8 Miami
Left out: Iowa State, Alabama, and Indiana.
Editor's note: originally I had the top 4 seeds in the wrong order. Right now your #2 seed would be BYU. The byes would go to AP #1, 9, 10, and 11.
1. The CFP committee will rank the top 25 teams as it has always done.
2. The top four conference champions will be seeds 1-4. The fifth highest-ranked conference champion is also guaranteed a spot in the playoff, but it will be seeded naturally without any preference like the top 4 teams.
3. The teams will then be placed into the bracket based on their ranking by the CFP committee.
4. The top four seeds will get a bye and will be assigned to a bowl. This will be done, generally, based on bowl tie ins. This year, for example, the quarterfinals will be the Sugar, Rose, Fiesta, and CFA Peach Bowl. So, likely if your top four seeds are from P4 conferences, the SEC Champ will be placed in the Sugar, Big 10 champ to Rose, Big 12 champ to Fiesta, and ACC champ to the Peach.
5. Seeds 5-8 host a home playoff game in the first round against seeds 9-12.
FAQS
1. So what if we're #1 but don't play in the SECCG? Then we will likely be the #5 seed and host a home playoff game. We cannot get a top 4 seed in that situation.
2. Can Notre Dame get a bye? Nope, not unless they join and win a conference.
3. Does the SEC Champion have an automatic bid? Not necessarily! You have to be one of the top 5 ranked conference champs to get a bye. For example, in 2020, there were 5 conference champions ranked higher than Oregon which won the Pac 12. In theory, the Sun Belt, AAC, MAC, Mountain West, and Conference USA could all get automatic bids in the same year.
4. So how would the playoff look as of today? Great question! Here it is using the AP rankings and current conference standings (note: Clemson and BYU have one more conference win than Miami and Iowa State, thus they'd be "conference champions" if the season ended today):
1. Oregon - Rose Bowl
2. BYU - Fiesta
3. TAMU - Sugar
4. Clemson - Peach Bowl
12 Boise State @5 UGA
11 Notre Dame @ 6 Penn State
10 Tennessee @7 Ohio State
9 Texas @8 Miami
Left out: Iowa State, Alabama, and Indiana.
Editor's note: originally I had the top 4 seeds in the wrong order. Right now your #2 seed would be BYU. The byes would go to AP #1, 9, 10, and 11.
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