For the last 8 years, the only conferences that have been in the college football playoff national championship have been the ACC, Big Ten, PAC-12 and SEC.
If a team from one of the other conferences (American Athletic Conference, Big 12) has a good enough record, can they also qualify for the championship game on January 8th, or is it limited to those four mentioned above?
What about Conference USA, FBS Independents, Mid-American Conference, Mountain West Conference and Sun Belt Conference?
Technically, all of those conferences (plus the FBS independent schools) are eligible, though the “Power 5” conferences (SEC, Big Ten, Pac-12, Big 12, ACC) have guaranteed berths in the “access bowls,” and thus, have an advantage in participating in the playoff.
The only teams which aren’t in the “Power 5” which have ever appeared in the playoffs are Notre Dame (technically an independent in football, appeared in 2018 and 2020) and Cincinnati (American Conference, appeared in 2021).
This is false.
It’s absolutely true. He said championship, not the playoffs. It’s not an accurate understanding of the playoff structure, but it’s a true statement.
True. Beyond the two schools which I already noted (Notre Dame and Cincinnati), Oklahoma (Big 12) has also qualified for the playoffs (four times, in fact), but none of them have advanced to the championship game.
So, the way that the championship game has been structured since 2014, in order to “qualify” for the championship game, a school must both:
Any team from the ten FBS conferences - American, ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac-12, SEC, Sun Belt - and any “FBS Independent” team (for example, Notre Dame and Army), is eligible to get into the CFP playoff. It’s just that it’s really hard for a non-“Power 5” school to have a team that’s considered to be one of the top four in the country.
Right now, it’s what @That_Don_Guy says.
In the future (2025 season and later), they’re going to a 12 team format.
The 12 teams will be the six conference champions ranked highest by the selection committee with no minimum ranking requirement, plus the six highest-ranked teams not included among the six highest-ranked conference champions, according to CFP.
The ranking of the teams will be done by a selection committee. The four highest-ranked conference champions will be seeded one through four and will receive a first-round bye. The other eight teams will play in the first round with the higher seeds hosting the lower seeds either on campus or at other sites designated by the higher-seeded institution.
The four quarterfinal games and two semifinal games would be played in bowls on a rotating basis and the national championship game will continue to be played at a neutral site. The higher seeds would receive preferential placement in semifinal games.
Subject to reaching agreement with bowls, the four highest-ranked conference champions will be assigned to quarterfinals bowls on selection day in ranking order, and in consideration of current contract bowl relationships if those bowls are selected for the rotation.
With the four highest-ranked champions assigned to quarterfinal games in bowls, the opponent from first-round game winners will be assigned by the selection committee based on the bracket.
So in the 2025 scenario mentioned by @bump , will the “Power 5” conferences have any sort of priority over the other conferences?
Officially? No.
Unofficially? Of course, that’s the very nature of the rankings.
Exactly. The rankings take into account “strength of schedule,” and that sets up sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy. A team that plays a bunch of ranked teams, and competes in one of the top conferences (particularly the SEC or the Big Ten) will, with an identical win-loss record, get ranked higher than a team from a smaller conference, which plays against fewer (if any) teams which were also ranked.
As an example, the University of Central Florida, which plays in the American Athletic Conference, is a FBS team from a non-Power 5 conference. In 2017, UCF finished 13-0, in a year in which no other FBS team was undefeated, but wound up ranked only at #12 in the final playoff rankings; every team above them was from a Power 5 conference, including Auburn, which had three losses, and which UCF had beaten in the Peach Bowl.
An expanded playoff will probably mean that a UCF would get into the playoff, but likely as one of the lower-ranked teams in it. A term that gets used a lot, in reference to teams from smaller conferences with strong records, is “yes, but who did you play?” That may or may not be fair, but it’s definitely the perception.
Like or not, there’s an overall divide between the Power 5 conferences and the Group of 5 conferences. Individual teams may be better or worse, but on average, the say… PAC-12 is going to be better overall than the AAC. So sportswriters and coaches are likely to figure that perception in to their rankings.
IMO, it would be nice to see a team outside of the SEC, ACC, Big 10, Big 12, & Pac 12 in the CFP, even though the 12 team playoff format will change everything, it’s unlikely that any team from the following conferences will ever get a playoff berth:
FBS Independents, Conference USA, Mid-American Conference, American Athletic Conference, Sun Belt Conference, and the Mountain West Conference
Furthermore, a majority of the college football recruitment process goes through the SEC, ACC, Big 10, Big 12, & Pac 12. Smaller FBS conferences don’t stand much of a chance, when compared to Alabama, Michigan, Ohio State, etc. which explains why Liberty isn’t the CFP this year…
However, current and former NFL players have played in various conferences and division levels of football, which means that an SEC QB may be projected as a Top 5 pick, while other players may turn out just as good or even better…
(Cut mine.)
Oh, I don’t know. I imagine Notre Dame will certainly make several 12-team playoff brackets.
For a team from a non-Power-5 conference to get in, they have to play really well and also put strong opponents on their schedule. The Alfred University Saxons could win every game by 13 touchdowns and they’re still not getting anywhere near the playoffs if their opponents are SUNY Cortland, etc.
I know they will, but that’s the only exception, unless the other remaining independents turn into successful programs like Notre Dame…