The College Football Playoff as we know it first occurred in 2014. Though many celebrated its introduction, it was also quite controversial at the time. Especially controversial was the number of teams included.
The College Football Playoff currently includes twelve teams, which will be the case for the 2024 and 2025 seasons. In 2026, the playoff will expand to fourteen teams.
The teams in the twelve team College Football Playoff include:
- The top five highest ranked conference champions (by Selection Committee ranking)
- The seven highest ranked teams besides those five conference champions
The top four ranked conference champions will be the top four seeds and receive a bye. The rest of the seeds will be determined by rank.
The College Football Playoff Selection Committee, the same committee that published rankings for the previous four team playoff format, begins releasing rankings in late October or early November.
The previous four team playoff format ran from the 2014 season through the 2023 season. In late 2023, the shift to a twelve team playoff was announced, with the specific format agreed upon in early 2024.
The format for the upcoming fourteen team playoff is currently being reviewed, with the rumored proposal being between one and three auto-bids per conference based on a tiered structure and three at larges. But, the most recent wave of conference realignment and concentration of power in the Big Ten and SEC in particular has brought the proposed format under scrutiny.
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