Understanding College Football Playoff: How the 12-Team Format Will Work

As the college football landscape evolves, understanding College Football Playoff has become crucial for fans and bettors alike. With the introduction of the 12-team College Football Playoff (CFP), the stakes are higher than ever. This new format will allow more teams to compete for the national title, making the playoff race even more exciting. After a wild rivalry weekend, the latest CFP rankings are set to cause significant shakeups as we move closer to the conference title games. Which teams will rise, and which will fall? With only a few spots left in the 12-team field, the pressure is mounting.

Understanding College Football Playoffs with the 12-teams
College Football Revolution: The New Era of the Playoff

2024 NCAA Division I FBS Football Season | 155th season of college football in the United States
Week 15: Tuesday, December 6th – Saturday, December 7th, 2024

Betting NCAAF Teams that will Make Playoffs

Championship Saturday is set.

UNLV battles Boise State for the Mountain West Championship, Iowa State takes on Arizona State for the Big 12 title, Georgia throws down against Texas for the SEC Championship, it’s Penn State versus Oregon for the Big 12 and Clemson takes on SMU for the ACC title.

How does this year’s 12-team College Football Playoff work and what are the CFP predictions?

Keep reading for a rundown of this season’s College Football Playoffs along with predictions and National Championship college football odds.

Writer’s Explanation on the College Football Playoffs

12-Team College Football Playoff Bracket

6-Team Automatic bid projections and seeds

• Oregon +350 – Big Ten 
• Georgia +500 – SEC
• SMU +2500 – ACC
• ASU +8000 – Big 12
• UNLV +25000 – Mountain West

7-Team CFP Selection Committee at large bid projections and seeds

• Penn State +1000 – Big Ten
• Notre Dame +800 – Independent
• Tennessee +1600 – SEC
• Ohio State +450 – Big Ten
• Indiana +4000 – Big Ten
• Boise State +10000 – Mountain West
• South Carolina +8000 – SEC

This is How the 12-Team College Football Playoff Will Work

5-Team Automatic Qualifiers

SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 Champions Earn Automatic Bids

The four automatic qualifiers go to the champions of the remaining Power 4 Conferences: the Big Ten, ACC, Big 12, and the SEC.

The four winners of next week’s championship games are in. I predict those four winners to be Oregon over Penn State, Georgia over Texas, SMU over Clemson, and Arizona State over Iowa State.

Those four, along with the highest ranked winner from one of the non-Power 4 Conferences, seed based on rankings. In this scenario, the rankings will be:

• Oregon
• Georgia
• SMU
• Arizona State

Automatic bid goes to the highest ranked conference champion from the Mountain West, American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, etc.

The highest conference champion from one of the remaining conferences will also score an automatic bid.

Both Boise State and UNLV should climb up the College Football Playoff Rankings on Tuesday afternoon.

Tulane, who battles Army in the AAC title game, lost to Memphis.

So Tulane will fall in the rankings, which means either the Runnin’ Rebels or Broncos, the winner of the Mountain West, grabs the 5-seed.

My prediction is that UNLV upsets Boise State.

The Broncos, though, won’t fall out of the top 12 and instead sneak into the College Football Playoff at 11 while surprising UNLV grabs the fifth seed. 

7-Teams At Large Bids

CFP Selection Committee Selects the 6 at Large Bid Teams

The college football playoff selects the remaining seven teams based on final rankings.

Those seven teams should be: 6-Penn State, 7-Notre Dame, 8-Tennessee, 9-Ohio State, 10-Indiana, 11-South Carolina, 12-Boise State.

12-Team College Football Playoff format

Seeds 5 – 12 Play First Round Games at the Higher Seeds Home Stadium

Seed five through twelve play first round games.

In this scenario, 5-UNLV takes on 12-South Carolina, 6-Penn State goes up against 11-Boise State, 7-Notre Dame tackles 10-Indiana 8-Tennessee throws down against 9-Ohio State.

UNLV’s dream run should end versus South Carolina.

The Gamecocks are on fire and deserve to make the College Football Playoff over SEC rival Alabama after upsetting 12-Clemson in their final regular season game.

Bama’s losses have come against mediocre teams while the Gamecocks lost to then 16-LSU, then 12-Ole Miss, and then 7-Alabama by 2 points.

Penn State has yet to face a running back like Ashton Jeanty.

The Broncos almost pulled off the upset win over Oregon in Autzen early in the season.

Although I predict Boise State to bounce backward in a loss to UNLV on Saturday, they make up for it by upsetting Penn State in the CFP.

Notre Dame is going to struggle to stop Indiana’s offense.

The Hoosiers come off a blowout 66-0 victory over Purdue.

For sure Purdue is the worst team in the Big Ten but Indiana still managed to drop 66 points.

Notre Dame hasn’t faced a team with this type of offense, or this good of a defense, in a long time. So the Hoosiers get it done.

Tennessee versus Ohio State should be a classic. But at the end, Tennessee wins the game.

Josh Heupel’s squad has a legit star quarterback in Nico Iamaleava and the Vols turned on at the end of the regular season.   

Teams to Win Move to the Quarterfinals Versus the Top Four Seeds

First round winners move on to the quarterfinals where they take on the winners of the top four seeds.

Check out my predictions for the quarterfinals:

• 12-South Carolina vs 4-ASU
• 11-Boise State vs 3-SMU
• 10-Indiana vs 2-Georgia
• 8-Tennesse vs 1-Oregon

South Carolina continues their National Championship dreams by knocking off Arizona State.

The Gamecocks have too much on both sides of the ball for the Sun Devils to handle.

Boise State beats SMU. The Mustangs haven’t lost since falling to BYU way back in College Football Week 2.

SMU gets by Clemson but then falls to Boise State in the quarterfinals.

Georgia versus Indiana should be a good game. But at the end of the day, the Georgia Bulldogs prevail.

The Dawgs got lucky versus Georgia Tech.

They will step it up against Texas and then turn on the after burners in the CFP.

Although Tennessee gives Oregon a good game, the well-coached and disciplined Ducks beat the Volunteers.

Oregon has been the best team all season long and continues the winning streak in the College Football Playoff. 

CFP Semifinals and Then the National Championship

• Georgia vs Boise State
• Oregon vs South Carolina

Georgia ends Boise State’s miraculous run to the National Championship.

The Broncos hang for a while but then the Dawgs’ defense shuts down Ashton Jeanty and Boise has no answer.

Oregon beats South Carolina.

The Gamecocks look like winners up until the second half of the second quarter where Dillon Gabriel begins to shred South Carolina’s defense.

National Championship: Oregon vs Georgia

In a game between Oregon and Georgia, the Ducks have the edge.

Oregon’s speed on offense will be too much for the Dawgs’ terrific defense to handle.

Almost as important? Carson Beck won’t outplay Dillon Gabriel and Dan Lanning, Oregon’s coach, built the Georgia defense.

Lanning knows how to beat it.

Oregon prevails to win the National Championship and cap an undefeated season.

College Football National Championship Pick: Oregon Ducks

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CFB25's College Football Playoff bracket projection with current wins and losses as of this week pic.twitter.com/P3Kse4tpvS

— B1G Reign☔️ (@huskymuse) December 1, 2024

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