The landscape of college football is going to drastically change in the near future.
The college football playoffs will be expanding to 12 teams with the start of the 2024 season. That means that the upcoming season in 2023 will be the final four-team playoff season of this era.
There will also be significant buzz heading into the 2024 season from the SEC perspective as Texas and Oklahoma will be entering the conference prior to that season, which will result in a new schedule format to be drafted.
All in all, college football as we know it is about to shift after this next season.
Expanding the playoffs from four to 12 teams will, obviously, allow for many more teams to have the opportunity to compete for the final trophy at the end of the season, as opposed to just a one-off bowl game matchup. There will always be teams on the top tier like Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, and USC that compete for a zero or one-loss season and will be in contention for one of the first four spots. The playoff expansion, though, helps out the teams that are just outside of that one-loss tier looking in.
Tennessee, for example, could go 10-2 with only losses to Georgia and Alabama and still certainly be in the running for one of the 12 playoff spots. The playoff expansion allows for a whole lot more conversations regarding matchups and seeding, too.
More from RTI: Tennessee Football Lands Top 15 Way-Too-Early Ranking
The announcement for the 2024 and 2025 postseasons comes from the College Football Playoffs on Tuesday morning:
2024 Season
First Round (Games will take place on campus)
- Friday, December 20, 2024: One game (evening time)
- Saturday, December 21, 2024: Three games (afternoon, evening, and night times)
Quarterfinals
- Tuesday, December 31, 2024: Vrbo Fiesta Bowl (evening time)
- Wednesday, January 1, 2025: Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (afternoon), Rose Bowl Game (afternoon), and Allstate Sugar Bowl (evening)
Semifinals
- Thursday, January 9, 2025: Capital One Orange Bowl (evening time)
- Friday, January 10, 2025: Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic (evening time)
College Football National Championship
- Monday, January 20, 2025: Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA
2025 Season
First Round (Games will take place on campus)
- Friday, December 19, 2025: One game (evening time)
- Saturday, December 20, 2025: Three games (afternoon, evening, and night times)
Quarterfinals
- Wednesday, December 31, 2025: Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic (evening)
- Thursday, January 1, 2026: Capital One Orange Bowl (early afternoon), Rose Bowl Game (late afternoon) and Allstate Sugar Bowl (evening)
Semifinals
- Thursday, January 8, 2026: Vrbo Fiesta Bowl (evening)
- Friday, January 9, 2026: Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (evening)
College Football National Championship
- Monday, January 19, 2026: Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida
The 2022 “What If?” Bracket
During the 2022 college football postseason, CBS Sports compiled a great “What If?” regarding a hypothetical 12-team playoff in the sport this past season.
In that hypothetical, Tennessee (10-2) would have landed as the No. 8 seed. The top four seeds went to the four highest-ranked conference champions with the rest of the teams filling in the spots:
- First-Round Bye – No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Clemson, and No. 4 Utah
- Rest of the Field – No. 5 TCU, No. 6 Ohio State, No. 7 Alabama, No. 8 Tennessee, No. 9 Kansas State, No. 10 USC, No. 11 Penn State, and No. 12 Tulane
CBS Sports’ projection would have set Tennessee up for an 8-9 matchup in the first round against Kansas State in Knoxville. The winner of the Tennessee-Kansas State game would have then faced No. 1-seed Georgia in the college football playoff quarterfinals.
The College Football Playoffs expansion is set to officially begin with the start of the 2024 season.
