The Pac-12 poaching during the hectic college football realignment has meant changes to the 2024 College Football Playoff system before the new system even began.
The College Football Playoff, which will expand its playoff field from four to 12 teams in 2024, has changed the number of automatic qualifiers, officially voting to move to a 5+7 format rather than the previously approved 6+6 format.
“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,” Dr. Mark Keenum, Mississippi State president and CFP Board of Managers chair, said in a release. “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.”
The change is more than just different ways of adding up to 12. Here's what you need to know about the new format.
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College Football Playoff format 2024
Under the originally approved format for the expanded playoff, there would be six automatic bids for conference champions and six qualifiers for the next-highest ranked teams in the field, which is why the system was called the "6+6" model. That will now change to five automatic bids for conference champions and seven qualifiers for the next-highest-ranked teams in the field, hence the 5+7.
The reasoning for making the change is simple: the Pac-12, as fans knew it, no longer exists. There had been a Power Five in college football, but with most of the Pac-12 teams heading to the Big Ten or the ACC, there are only two teams left in the conference — Oregon State and Washington State. It's clearly no longer in the same class as the Big Ten, ACC, SEC, or Big 12.
The design of the original model was, in essence, to grant entries to the conference champion of each Power Five team and the highest-ranked Group of Five champion. Theoretically, a Power Five champion could be left out if it is not ranked higher than two Group of Five conference champions. Now that it is a Power Four, there are more opportunities for at-large teams to reach the field of 12.
Though the revised model could be seen as a potential hindrance for the remaining Pac-12 teams, Washington State president Kirk Schulz said the two programs decided the seven at-large bids would be better for them than the six conference champions.
"For our two schools in the Pac-12 as it's currently configured, there is no question that five-seven, with seven at-larges, is better than six at-larges," Schulz, the Pac-12's CFP representative, told ESPN. "There's no question our football coaches are going to want to compete for one of those seven slots, and seven is going to be better than six."
The Pac-12 had previously abstained or asked for a delay in the vote for the 5+7 format, according to ESPN, as the two decided what was most helpful for the two programs. The vote to change from 6+6 to 5+7 needed to be unanimous to be approved.
Though the automatic qualifiers have changed, little else will be different for the College Football Playoff format in 2024. The four highest-ranked conference champions will still receive a first-round bye, and teams seeded five through 12 will meet at the home field of the higher-ranked teams for first-round matchups. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be New Year's Six bowl games. The national championship will be held at a neutral site.
Though many will see the Big Ten and SEC, in particular, as locks to earn CFP berths every year, no conference is 100 percent guaranteed to receive a team. On the flip side, it's theoretically possible for one conference to receive all seven at-large bids and fill the field with eight total teams.