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Former Michigan and NFL linebacker Dhani Jones sits down with Dave Birkett to talk Detroit Lions, Jim Harbaugh and more.
Another change to the College Football Playoff model could be in the works.
One day removed from its initial circulating rumors, more details regarding the newly proposed 14-team model are becoming known. According to several reports, in the proposed 14-team model the champions of the SEC and Big Ten would receive automatic byes to the quarterfinals.
Using last year’s results, Alabama and Michigan would receive the first-round byes as the winners of the SEC and Big Ten respectively in this talked about 14-team model.
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Yahoo! Sports’ Ross Dellenger was the first to report the news, saying this model has not been finalized and is only being “socialized before more exploratory work” is done on it.
2024 College Football Playoff structure
Back on Feb. 20, the College Football Playoff Board of Managers unanimously approved to the adoption of the 5 + 7 model format to expand the playoff from five teams to 12 starting this upcoming 2024-25 college football season.
“This is a very logical adjustment for the College Football Playoff based on the evolution of our conference structures since the board first adopted this new format in September 2022,” Mississippi State president and chair of the board Mark Keenum said in a statement. “I know this change will also be well received by student-athletes, coaches and fans. We all will be pleased to see this new format come to life on the field this postseason.”
In this new format, the four highest-ranked conference champions will receive a first-round bye and be seeded one through four, while the remaining eight teams will be seeded five through 12 and play each other in the first round on the home field of the higher-ranked team.
Here is a full breakdown of the schedule for the 2024 College Football Playoff 12-team model:
First round (On-Campus)
- Friday, Dec. 20, 2024: One game
- Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024: Three games
Quarterfinals
- Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024: Vrbo Fiesta Bowl
- Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025: Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl Game and Allstate Sugar Bowl
Semifinals
- Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025: Capital One Orange Bowl
- Friday, Jan. 10, 2025: Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic
National Championship
- Monday, Jan. 20, 2025: Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta)
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Will the College Football Playoff expand again?
It remains to be unknown but it would not happen until 2026 at the earliest.
Currently, the model for the CFP for the next two seasons is a 5 + 7 model. This model includes the five highest-ranked conference champions and the next seven highest-ranked teams as at-large bids.
On Wednesday, initial rumors began to circulate on social media and outlets across the country that a 14-team proposed bracket was being “socialized” that follows a model structure of a 3-3-2-2-1.
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Proposed 14-team playoff bracket
As aforementioned, there is currently a 14-team playoff model that is being thrown around in circles. The model itself caught some “momentum” in discussions at last week’s CFP Board of Managers meeting in Irving, Texas, according to ESPN’s college football insiders Pete Thamel and Heather Dinich.
The reason a new model is being discussed in the first place is the current CFP contract expires after the 2025 season and executive director Bill Hancock said there is a “need” to get a new deal done by the end of March.
According to The Athletic’s Chris Vannini, the 3-3-2-2-1 model would feature three automatic spots each for the Big Ten and SEC, two spots each for the Big 12 and ACC and one for the Group of 5, along with three at-large spots.
The 14-team model format itself is seen as a “compromise to the Big Ten and SEC’s initial proposal of four automatic berths for those leagues” according to Dellenger.
There remain a lot of unknowns in this 14-team model, including finances remain. But as Thamel and Dinich noted, the SEC and Big Ten could earn somewhere between 25% and 30% of the CFP revenue. This would be a change from the old model that had 80% of the CFP revenue going to the Power 5 conferences, while 20% had been allocated to the Group of 5 conferences.
2024-03-01 01:57:26
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