Overview
- Eleven CFP games run Dec. 19–Jan. 19, opening with No. 9 Alabama at No. 8 Oklahoma on Dec. 19 before quarterfinals, semifinals and the title game at neutral sites.
- Top seeds No. 1 Indiana, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Georgia and No. 4 Texas Tech have first-round byes, with higher seeds hosting first-round games on campus.
- This year’s field features two Group of Five teams for the first time—Tulane and James Madison—after both won conference titles to qualify.
- Notre Dame’s exclusion—and its decision to decline a bowl bid—has fueled criticism of the committee and spurred calls to expand, with Kirk Herbstreit urging a move to 16 teams and Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia advocating a 16-team field with play-in games.
- Competing ideas proliferate: a columnist’s 40-team Super League and an 80-team, eight-conference framework surfaced, while analyst Dan Wetzel blasted a 24-team play-in concept as a de facto 32; Oregon coach Dan Lanning argued that teams should ‘win enough’ rather than complain.