The 12-team playoff is really just an 8-team playoff with 8 play-in games

Florida State went 13–0 but was left out of the College Football Playoff.

As I watched the conference championship games this weekend, and saw how the final CFP selections played out, it occurred to me that the 12-team playoff isn’t the only positive change coming to college football’s postseason in 2024.

The new postseason format, and the consolidation of top programs from five power conferences to four, will make future playoffs a whole lot cleaner.

The big reason this year’s selections were so messy was that there are five power conferences but only four playoff spots. That was also the big issue in 2014, and the selection committee is lucky it wasn’t a problem more often.

When the playoff grows to 12 teams next season, the top four spots will still be coveted because those teams get byes into the quarterfinals, which are being played as part of the New Year’s bowl lineup. Teams have to win a conference title to be eligible for a bye.

When the 12-team playoff was initially designed, it was done under the assumption that there would still be five power conferences. That would have given four conference champions a bye into the quarterfinals, with one other needing to play its way in.

But thanks to conference realignment, that asymmetry is going away. There will only be four power conferences next season, meaning that the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC championship games will all essentially be play-in games to go the quarterfinals.

The 12-team playoff’s first round — matching up teams seeded 5 through 12 —will essentially serve as the play-in games for the other four quarterfinal spots.

Those first-round games will match up teams that either lost a power conference title game, didn’t reach a power conference title game or won a Group of 5 conference. (And sometimes Notre Dame.) There will be some really good teams in that mix, like this year’s Georgia team.

Next year, eight teams will earn their way to New Year’s on the field instead of in a boardroom. Four will do it on conference championship weekend and four more will do it two weeks later.