how the college football playoff system works

What is the College Football Playoff System?

The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an invitational annual playoff knockout tournament that is considered to be the highest level of college football tournaments held in the United States.

The ultimate objective of this competition is to determine a national champion for the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NACC).

More About the Tournament

This tournament comprises just four teams that play two semifinal matches; and the winners of these two matches move up to the Championship game. These games are held either on the eve or the day of the New Year.

The tournament runs on the Plus-One system of rankings. The objective behind the Plus-One System is to smoothly govern the overall functioning of the tournament by the committee of 13 selected individuals. In this new selection system for the finals, the designated committee chooses the four teams based on different criteria, such as their head-to-head results, the number of championships they won, how strong they are against their common opponents, etc.

The College Tournament Committee

The 13-member panel of the tournament’s committee upholds different responsibilities, a few of which are:

Selecting the four teams that will play in the semifinals.
Choosing the champion from among the five conferences based on their ranks.
Organizing competitive matches.
Ensuring that the tournament runs smoothly.

This committee selects the teams that deserve to participate in the New Year’s six bowls, i.e. the two semifinal games and the four other premier bowls.

The two semifinal games revolve around six major bowl games, also referred to as the New Year’s Six. The teams selected for these six major bowls are determined using the College Football Playoff (CFP) ratings which are also used for the selection of the four teams sometimes.

The 6 Bowls

The six bowls are scheduled so they don’t overlap to ensure there is no conflict between any of the games and teams. The games are played on consecutive days, including New Year’s Day, with around three matches per day. The two semifinals are scheduled on the same day, while the final championship tournament is played on the first Monday night, i.e., six days after the games.

The selection committee prepares the top four teams based on fixed criteria and also assigns venues for the games in the years when it is not possible to host the semifinals.

The venue of these games is selected based on bids submitted by prospective host cities. This process is quite similar to the selections of the locations for the Super Bowls and other All-Star games for major professional sports.

The four-team format pits follow a pattern where Team 1 goes up against Team 4, and Team 2 is listed against Team 3. The winners of these two matches will have to compete against each other in the finals.

The seeding and the preparation of the teams determine the semifinal bowl game assigned to each matchup.

Conclusion

Unlike the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) where the NCAA manages the college football postseason, a management team chosen through 10 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) conferences organizes the College Football Playoff. All the managerial decisions are taken up by them and the BCS Properties, LLC., which owns all properties related to the College Football Playoffs.

The winner of this prestigious championship is awarded the College Football Playoff National Championship Trophy.

FAQs

How does the NCAA Football Playoff work?

The four College Football Playoff teams are chosen by a 13-member selection committee comprising university athletic administrators, former coaches and former players. These four teams will have to play against each other in the semifinals, after which the two winners will go on to play in the finals.

Who makes the decisions on the College Football Playoffs?

A 13-member panel selects the four teams that will compete against each other in the Playoffs. The committee members are also in charge of making other significant decisions like organizing the events and choosing the champions.