When are College Football Playoff rankings released? Everything to know

The start of a new era in the College Football Playoff will commence on Tuesday.

For the first time, the CFP committee will unveil its top 25 rankings for the 12-team playoff. Of course, these rankings aren’t final as there are still four weeks remaining in the 2024 college football regular season, plus a weekend of conference championship games. But it gives us the first look at how the committee feels about each contender as teams jockey for position to make the 12-team tournament. Before we look ahead to Tuesday’s rankings reveal, here is a look at FOX Sports national college football analyst RJ Young’s CFP predictions:

Let’s take a look at everything you need to know before the rankings are unveiled at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

When will the rankings be released?

The first CFP rankings will be released at 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday.

Here’s a look at the full list of when the CFP rankings will be released:

Tuesday, Nov. 5: 7 p.m. ET
Tuesday, Nov. 12: 8:30 p.m. ET
Tuesday, Nov. 19: 7 p.m. ET
Tuesday, Nov. 26: 8 p.m. ET
Tuesday, Dec. 3: 7 p.m. ET
Sunday, Dec. 8: Noon ET

How can I watch the rankings reveal?

ESPN will air the top 25 reveal of the rankings each week.

Who is a part of the CFP committee?

The CFP committee has consisted of 13 members since its first season in 2014 and is made up of athletic directors from Power 4 conferences, former coaches, players and ex-media members. Former Nevada coach Chris Ault, Navy athletic director Chet Gladchuk, former Ohio/Wake Forest/Baylor coach Jim Grobe, Michigan AD Warde Manuel, former Arizona State offensive lineman Randall McDaniel, former Toledo/Missouri coach Gary Pinkel, Baylor athletic director Mack Rhoades, former Oregon State/Nebraska coach Mike Riley, Miami (OH.) athletic director David Sayler, former Nebraska offensive lineman Will Shields, former sportswriter Kelly Whiteside, Virginia athletic director Carla Williams and Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek make up this year’s 13-member committee.

Committee members must recuse themselves when discussions of certain schools come up, such as their alma mater or their current employer.

Ohio State beats Penn State 20-13 in Happy Valley

How does the committee determine the rankings?

The committee uses a handful of factors to help determine the top 25. It uses metrics such as strength of schedule, head-to-head competition and “comparative outcomes of common opponents (without incenting margin of victory),” per the CFP’s website.

Additionally, the committee considers “other relevant factors,” mentioning the unavailability of key players as one of those factors. For instance, the committee pointed to the season-ending injury of Jordan Travis as one of the reasons why it left out undefeated Florida State from the four-team playoff field in 2023.

How will the 12-team bracket be made?

The 12-team bracket might not necessarily have the 12 highest-ranked teams. The four highest-ranked conference champions will receive the top four seeds and a first-round bye. Additionally, the fifth highest-ranked conference champion will also receive an automatic bid into the 12-team field, allowing a team from the Group of 5 to make the playoff. A Group of 5 team can receive a first-round bye if it’s one of the four-highest ranked conference champions.

The seven other spots in the 12-team field are at-large bids, which are determined through the seven highest-ranked teams that aren’t one of the five highest-ranked conference winners.

There are a few teams that are ineligible to receive an automatic berth into the College Football Playoff. All independents can only qualify as an at-large team. Notre Dame is the lone independent who still seemingly has a chance to make the playoff. If it does, its seed number can’t be higher than fifth, even if the committee ranks it as one of the top four teams. So, Notre Dame is ineligible to receive a first-round bye.

Oregon State and Washington State are also ineligible to receive an automatic bid into the postseason as the Pac-12 isn’t one of the conferences that is considered for automatic berth into the playoff.

Oregon stays undefeated & can Michigan turn it around?

When does the 2024 College Football Playoff begin?

The first game of the College Football Playoff is on Friday, Dec. 20. As one first-round game takes place on that Friday, three more are scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 21. The higher seed in each of the four matchups will get to play on their home field or venue of their choice.

What happens after the first round?

The 12-team playoff is a bracket format, so there is no reseeding after each round. The four quarterfinal games will take place as part of bowl games. The first quarterfinal game will take place on Tuesday, Dec. 31, when two teams face off at the Fiesta Bowl. The other three quarterfinal games (Rose Bowl, Peach Bowl, Sugar Bowl) will take place on New Year’s Day.

The semifinals will also be bowl games. The Orange Bowl will play host to a matchup between two semifinalists on Thursday, Jan. 9, while the other two semifinalists will meet in the Cotton Bowl a day later.

The national championship game is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 20 and will take place at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

What should I know about the history of the first CFP poll from each season?

Oregon seems likely to be the No. 1 team in the CFP rankings for the 2024 season. Historically, that hasn’t been a good thing. Only two teams have gone on to win the national championship after being ranked No. 1 in the first CFP poll of the season: 2020 Alabama and 2021 Georgia.
However, the team to receive the No. 1 ranking in the first CFP poll of the year would go on to make the four-team playoff in seven of the 10 seasons. Under the 12-team format, all 10 teams that received the No. 1 ranking in the first CFP poll of the year would’ve made the playoff that same year.
Ohio State in 2014 had the lowest ranking for a team in the first CFP poll that would go on to win the national championship that same season. The Buckeyes were ranked 16th in the first poll that year before squeaking into the four-team field in the final poll of the year.
Ohio State’s 2014 season was an anomaly, though, in the four-team era. The other nine national champions were ranked in the top four of the first CFP poll in the season that they won it all.

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