Who are the 13 people who will decide the inaugural 12 team College Football Playoff field?
If you’ve watched any college football at all this season, you’ve almost certainly been inundated with discussion about the College Football Playoff, which expands to 12 teams from four for the first time in 2024.
The expanded playoff certainly provides quite a bit of intrigue, with five spots guaranteed to conference champions and the remaining seven spots up for grabs. How those teams are determined, and how the 12 teams are ultimately seeded, is up to the College Football Playoff selection committee.
So, who comprises this College Football Playoff committee?
It’s made up of 13 individuals with varying backgrounds in the sport. Most are current athletics directors, though some are former players, coaches and, historically, Condoleeza Rice.
But who sits on the committee this year? Here are the current 13 members of the College Football Playoff selection committee, which will determine what is sure to be a well-received, non-controversial 12-team field:
Warde Manuel, committee chair: Michigan athletics director
Chris Ault: Former head coach at Nevada
Chet Gladchuk: Navy athletics director
Jim Grobe: Former head coach at Ohio, Wake Forest and Baylor
Randall McDaniel: Former Arizona State player
Gary Pinkel: Former head coach at Toledo and Missouri
Mack Rhoades: Baylor athletics director
Mike Riley: Former head coach at Oregon State and Nebraska
David Sayler: Miami (Ohio) athletics director
Will Shields: Former Nebraska player
Kelly Whiteside: Journalist
(Full disclosure: Whiteside previously worked for USA TODAY for 14 years.)
Your guide to everything about the new 12-team College Football Playoff.
Welcome to FTW Explains: A guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world. The college football postseason looks a little different in 2024-25, so we’re here to simplify and break it all down.
That’s OK because we’re here to help. Here’s a complete breakdown of what to know about the 12-team College Football Playoff.
How many teams are in the College Football Playoff?
(Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports)
As we mentioned, starting in the 2024-25 season, the CFP expanded to 12 teams. Previously, it was four teams, but that small pool of national championship contenders generated a ton of controversies and debates over the years since the playoff format was adopted for the 2014-15 season. Instead of four teams playing in three total games, there are now 12 teams competing in 11 total playoff games.
Now, even with 12 teams, there will surely be debates over seeding and which teams barely missed the cut. But at least now, the playoff field offers more opportunity for more teams.
How are the College Football Playoff teams selected?
(Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports)
The CFP teams will be selected based off of rankings made by the College Football Playoff selection committee. Factors the committee takes into consideration include conference championships, strength of schedule, head-to-head results, common opponents and, of course, style points.
For playoff selection, the 12 teams will be the five highest-ranked conference champions, followed by the next highest-ranked teams. Among the five highest-ranked conference champions will be a Group of Five team with a guaranteed shot at playing for a national championship — a notable deviation from previous years.
When do the College Football Playoff rankings come out?
While the playoff will now feature 12 teams, the CFP selection committee will continue ranking the top-25 teams on a weekly basis starting in November.
The first CFP rankings will be announced Tuesday, November 5 from 7-8 p.m. ET on ESPN. The rest of the rankings will be announced every Tuesday until Selection Sunday on December 8.
Tuesday, November 5, 7 p.m. ET on ESPN
Tuesday, November 12, 8:30/9 p.m. ET on ESPN
The start time this week is approximate because of the Champions Classic college basketball games.
Tuesday, November 19, 7 p.m. ET on ESPN
Tuesday, November 26, 8 p.m. ET on ESPN
Tuesday, December 3, 7 p.m. ET on ESPN
Sunday, December 8, noon ET on ESPN
Who’s on the College Football Playoff selection committee?
(Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images)
The CFP selection committee consists of 13 members ranging from college administrators to former athletes and coaches. For the 2024-25 season, the selection committee is:
Warde Manuel, committee chair: Michigan athletics director
Chris Ault: Former head coach at Nevada
Chet Gladchuk: Navy athletics director
Jim Grobe: Former head coach at Ohio, Wake Forest and Baylor
Randall McDaniel: Former Arizona State player
Gary Pinkel: Former head coach at Toledo and Missouri
Mack Rhoades: Baylor athletics director
Mike Riley: Former head coach at Oregon State and Nebraska
David Sayler: Miami (Ohio) athletics director
Will Shields: Former Nebraska player
Kelly Whiteside: Journalist
Full disclosure: Whiteside previously worked for USA TODAY for 14 years.
Carla Williams: Virginia athletics director
Hunter Yurachek: Arkansas athletics director
How does the College Football Playoff bracket and seeding work?
OK, so the CFP will be the five highest-ranked conference champs, plus the next seven highest-ranked teams. But seeding is where things get a little tricky.
The four highest-ranked conference champions will be seeded as No. 1 through No. 4, and those teams will get a first-round bye. If a team isn’t a conference champion but is ranked among the top four, it will be the No. 5 seed.
The fifth highest-ranked conference champ will either be seeded where it was ranked or in the No. 12 spot if it was outside the top-12 teams in the rankings.
Because of this seeding process, there’s a chance the teams ranked Nos. 1-12 won’t be seeded in that exact order. And the playoff committee won’t make any adjustments to avoid rematches from the regular season or two teams from the same conference playing each other.
Beyond the byes, the other eight teams, the No. 5 through No. 12 seeds, will face off in the first round of four games, and in each matchup, the higher seed will host the lower seed on campus or at another designated site.
How are College Football Playoff teams assigned to bowl games?
(Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
The first round of games in the expanded CFP format are more like typical college football games and will be hosted on the higher seed’s campus or at an alternative site picked by the higher seed. But bowl games come into play for the quarterfinals.
The selection committee will assign the four highest-ranked conference champions to Playoff Quarterfinals hosted by bowls. This will be done in consideration of historic bowl relationships, then in consideration of rankings. For example, if the Sugar Bowl hosts a Playoff Quarterfinal and the SEC champion is ranked No. 1 and the Big 12 champion is ranked No. 3, the SEC champion would be assigned to the Sugar Bowl and the Big 12 champion would be assigned elsewhere.
The bowl games set for this year’s College Football Playoff quarterfinals are the Fiesta Bowl (Dec. 31), the Peach Bowl (Jan. 1), the Rose Bowl (Jan. 1) and the Sugar Bowl (Jan. 1).
The CFP semifinals will be at the Orange Bowl (Jan. 9) and the Cotton Bowl (Jan. 10).
Which College Football Playoff teams get first-round byes?
First-round byes in the expanded CFP format are reserved for the four highest-ranked conference champions, which will be seeded at Nos. 1-4. With the bigger playoff field adding more games to the season, a first-round bye is a notable advantage and additional incentive to win a conference title.
When are the College Football Playoff games?
For the 2024-25 college football season, here’s the complete CFP schedule:
College Football Playoff First Round
Friday, December 20: One game
Saturday, December 21: Three games
College Football Playoff Quarterfinals
Tuesday, December 31: Fiesta Bowl
Wednesday, January 1: Peach Bowl
Wednesday, January 1: Rose Bowl
Wednesday, January 1: Sugar Bowl
College Football Playoff Semifinals
Thursday, January 9: Orange Bowl
Friday, January 10: Cotton Bowl
College Football Playoff National Championship Game
Monday, January 20: Mercedes Benz Stadium, Atlanta
When is the College Football Playoff National Championship Game?
(Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports)
The 2024-25 CFP national championship game is set for Monday, January 20, 2025 at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
The 2025-26 CFP national championship game is also scheduled for Monday, January 19, 2026 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
Mike Greenberg is completely over the CFP selection committee: “The system stinks!”.
Mike Greenberg says he’s tired of the College Football Playoff selection committee’s shenanigans.
On Sunday, there was A LOT of chatter about the four teams headed to the college football playoffs. Michigan, Washington, Texas and Alabama all have a chance at post-season glory, but the selection of those teams hasn’t come without backlash.
It should never take that long to reveal four teams on a graphic.
Sports are entertainment. That’s not breaking news. But ESPN’s College Football Playoff Selection Show took that mantra to a new level Sunday afternoon.
With a 12 ET start and the reveal scheduled for 12:15, the selection show didn’t get around to the reveal until closer to 12:30. And with fans ready to explode over which teams would end up in the top-four and remain in the national championship hunt, the show drew out the suspense even more with how it went about the reveal.
Teams one through three were revealed first, then six, before the show circled back around to the biggest reveal at four and five. Fans were completely over the suspense.
