College Football Playoff 2024/25 Bracket: Games, Times, Everything to Know
The 2024/25 College Football Playoff is set. Let's take a look at the first-ever 12-team field.
Conference championship week is over, and with it, the last regular Saturday of college football in 2024. On Sunday, the lineup for the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff was set by the selection committee, which means we'll spend the rest of 2024 and the first couple weeks of 2025 watching the battle for the national championship.
So, now that the lineup is set, let's take a closer look at the 12-team College Football Playoff bracket, and when you can watch each of the games.
RELATED: Everything to Know About the 12-Team College Football Playoff
How does the 2024/25 College Football Playoff work?
First, a quick refresher on the selection rules for the 2024 College Football Playoff, since this is the first year it's a 12-team bracket. The rules for the new bracket state that the five highest-ranked conference champions at the end of the Championship Week get an automatic Playoff berth, and the remaining seven slots are filled in by the highest-ranked teams left in the selection committee's Top 25 after that.
From there, seeding is determined based on records, with the four highest-ranked conference champions getting an automatic bye week during the first round. After that, things unfold like a standard tournament, with eight teams playing in the first round, eight teams playing in the second round, and four teams playing in the semifinal.
A closer look at the 2024/25 College Football Playoff bracket
So, which teams made the playoff under the new 12-team system? Here's the list, ranked according to their seed in the bracket, as well as a breakdown of their respective conferences.
- Oregon (Big Ten Conference Champion)
- Georgia (SEC Conference Champion)
- Boise State (Mountain West Conference Champion)
- Arizona State (Big 12 Conference Champion)
- Texas (SEC Conference runner-up)
- Penn State (Big Ten Conference runner-up)
- Notre Dame (Independent)
- Ohio State (Big Ten)
- Tennessee (SEC)
- Indiana (Big Ten)
- SMU (ACC Conference runner-up)
- Clemson (ACC Conference Champion)
RELATED: Where is Notre Dame in the 2024 College Football Playoff Rankings?
As we've already established, the top four seeds get an automatic bye from the first round, so Oregon, Georgia, Boise State, and Arizona State will all get to sit pretty in the semifinals and wait for their opponents. The remaining eight teams will have to battle it out with the highest-ranked seed playing the lowest, then the second highest-ranked team playing the second-lowest, and so on. If you want to see how it all looks in a pretty bracket, head over to NBC Sports.
The College Football Playoff Schedule
Because the Playoff has been expanded to 12 teams instead of the previous four, this year's competition will get underway the weekend before Christmas, and continue well into January of 2025. That means that other Bowl games will be taking places around the Playoff, and more pre-existing bowl games will be roped into the bracket. So, let's take a closer look at when you can watch your team in action.
December 20
- First Round Game 1: No. 10 Indiana vs. No. 7 Notre Dame - 8 p.m. Eastern
December 21
- First Round Game 2: No. 11 SMU vs. No. 6 Penn State - Noon Eastern
- First Round Game 3: No. 12 Clemson vs. No. 5 Texas - 4 p.m. Eastern
- First Round Game 4: No. 9 Tennessee vs. No. 8 Ohio State - 8 p.m. Eastern
December 31
- Quarterfinal Game 1: No. 3 Boise State vs. SMU/Penn State winner - Fiesta Bowl, 7:30 p.m. Eastern
January 1
- Quarterfinal Game 2: No. 4 Arizona State vs. Clemson/Texas winner - Peach Bowl, 1:30 p.m. Eastern
- Quarterfinal Game 3: No. 1 Oregon vs. Tennessee/Ohio State winner - Rose Bowl, 5:00 p.m. Eastern
- Quarterfinal Game 4: No. 2 Georgia vs. Indiana/Notre Dame winner - Sugar Bowl, 8:45 p.m. Eastern
January 9
- Semifinal Game 1: Winner of Fiesta Bowl vs. Winner of Sugar Bowl - Orange Bowl, teams and time TBD
January 10
- Semifinal Game 2: Winner of Peach Bowl vs. Winner of Rose Bowl - Cotton Bowl, teams and time TBD
January 20
- College Football Playoff National Championship Game: Winner of Orange Bowl vs. Winner of Cotton Bowl - 7:30 p.m. Eastern
For more College Football Playoff news, head to NBC Sports. NBC and Peacock offer exclusive Big Ten and Notre Dame Fighting Irish college football regular season action!
