College Football Playoff Format: The Twelve-Team Era
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:0010 years of the four-team format of the CFP is now a thing of recent history.
00:09It is a 12-team expanded field in the college football playoff entering the 2024 college
00:15football campaign.
00:16And here is the logistics of how it works.
00:20Five highest-ranked conference champions get an automatic berth into the field of 12, which
00:26leaves seven at-large bids.
00:29Now we have more college football playoff games.
00:32We will have an opening round, seats 5 through 12.
00:35We'll have on-campus home CFP games in the middle of December to start the CFP, followed
00:42by the quarterfinals, the semifinals, and of course a national championship game way
00:48later in 2025 on Monday, January 20th.
00:52Joe, there is a lot to adapt to.
00:54There is a lot to get used to this year in college football.
00:57But with change comes excitement.
00:59That's the 12-team era of the college football playoff.
01:02I can't wait.
01:03I tell you, I can't wait for the season to kick off on August 24th.
01:06That's what it's all about.
01:07But to your point, Ben, in terms of the odds perspective as well, think about the past
01:11couple of seasons.
01:12We saw TCU make the national championship game as a 200-to-1 shot.
01:16You're not going to see that this year.
01:18A lot of watered-down odds because the books don't want to really expose risk.
01:22They want to mitigate that risk.
01:24So you're seeing a lot of teams, 15, 20 teams under 80-to-1, and I think that's the change
01:29that we'll see.
01:30Teams like Ole Miss, Jackson, Dart, and Lane Kiffin have a shot.
01:33We see other teams as well, newcomers in the league, Utah, a frontrunner for the Big 12.
01:39Can they maintain the success from the start of the season to the end of the regular season?
01:44We saw four teams last year struggle with conference realignment.
01:48That'll open the door for potentially a dark horse as well.
01:50Lacey, I think it's one of the best points that you have brought up all offseason long.
01:54Just from the handicapping and betting perspective, you need to know where the liabilities are.
01:59As we show you the national championship odds and the 10 best prices to win the college
02:04football playoff national title this year, you'll notice a consistent theme.
02:09Nine of the 10 best prices hail from two conferences.
02:15That's the Big 10 and the SEC because Oregon is now a Big 10 school.
02:20Texas is now an SEC school.
02:23The only team in the top 10 that is not in one of those two conferences is not in any league.
02:28And that's Notre Dame, the Fighting Irish, a 22-1 number.
02:33So in the four-team format of the college football playoff era the past decade, we never
02:38saw a team with multiple losses make the four-team college football playoff field.
02:44Now with 12 spots available, we are going to see multiple teams, Joe, with multiple losses.
02:49Two, maybe even three, get into the college football playoff.
02:53And think about last year.
02:54We saw Georgia, right?
02:55I mean, they ran the gauntlet in terms of the regular season.
02:58They won their 11 FPS games by an average margin of victory, Ben, of 22.2 points for
03:03a game, lose to Alabama in the SEC championship, and they're on the outside looking in.
03:08Florida State, 13-0.
03:10They lose Jordan Travis.
03:12They're out.
03:13This year, they both be in, so I think that's from the odds perspective how you have to
03:17see it.
03:18Teams like Penn State have a shot.
03:20Teams like Ole Miss, like I mentioned, and some others.
03:23So which team could step up in the regular season, and if they do, in fact, lose a regular
03:27season early game, that does not necessarily mean they're out of the mix.