After 10 years, the era of the four-team College Football Playoff is over.
The 2024 season will be the first with 12 teams in the playoffs, with seeds 1-4 receiving a bye to the highest-ranked conference champion, No. 5 receiving a bye to “a ranked seed, or No. 12 if outside the top 12,” and the remaining teams receiving the next highest-ranked team.
The consensus among college football's biggest stars is that this is a great move.
“Ask any team, their goal is to win a national championship, and having the opportunity for a 12-team playoff spreads everyone's efforts around that goal. It's a great opportunity for them to get there,” Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe said in a recent interview with Fox News Digital.
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(AP Photo/Roger Steinman/File)
“It gives a lot of teams a chance to make a run,” Colorado two-way superstar Travis Hunter added. “I'm excited to see what we can do to get in the playoffs. I love it.”
Not surprisingly, the end of the four-team era was controversial when Florida State, who finished with a 13-0 record, failed to reach the finals. Back-to-back defending champions Georgia, who finished with a 42-2 record in 44 games, also failed to reach the finals, but their second loss came in the SEC finals to No. 8 Alabama, who had risen four spots to reach the finals.
The two Big Ten stars say adding eight more teams was the only way to go after last year's playoff results.
“It's fair in a way. You can have a very successful season and then lose one game and you're out of the playoffs. I don't think that's fair,” said Donovan Edwards, running back for the University of Michigan and the reigning national champions.
His rival, Ohio State wide receiver Emeka Egbuka, said it was “absolutely” supposed to happen.
“Every year there's a team that deserves that spot, but in the past there's only been four teams, so it's limited. I remember in recent history teams like FSU had undefeated seasons and didn't get a chance,” Egbuka said. “That takes that out of the equation, and with a 12-team playoff, it gives us a chance to show that we really are the best team, no matter what we're not doing early in the season.”
(Brett Kummer/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images/File)
Colorado star Travis Hunter exudes confidence heading into the 2024 season: “When the lights come on, I shine even more.”
Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers echoed similar sentiments.
“I think it's great that players get the opportunities, even if they're a smaller program that didn't get the opportunities that the bigger programs got. And it gives you a little bit more room to make mistakes. I think that's what you need in college football.”
But perhaps the most exciting part is that seeds 5, 6, 7 and 8 will all play playoff games at home.
“It's insane to play a playoff game in Death Valley,” Louisiana State quarterback Garrett Nussmeyer said. “It creates a different matchup when you play a playoff game in Death Valley.” (Nussmeyer, incidentally, clearly favors bye weeks.)
“It's going to pit teams against each other that have never played against each other before or have any plans to play against each other,” he added. “I think it's going to be really great for the sport because it opens up a whole range of possibilities.”
(David Buono/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images/File)
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The first round will be played on December 20 and 21, the quarterfinals on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, the semifinals are scheduled for January 9 and 10, and the final will be played a week later on January 20.
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