CFP releases final rankings: Full bracket reveal for 12-team playoff
The College Football Playoff committee has decisions to make Sunday morning before it announces which 12 teams will compete for this season’s national championship.
While Arizona State, Georgia and Oregon won their conference championship games Saturday, others were left waiting to see where they would be placed in the bracket as an at-large team.
The first-round games will be played at the home team’s venue and the quarterfinal games will be played at the site of traditional bowl games, such as the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl.
Here’s everything you need to know about the College Football Playoff ranking show and what teams will be playing in bowl games to end the 2024 season.
SEC has most CFP top 25 teams
Officials and pundits talk strength of schedule factor for playoffs
College Football Playoff Rankings
Playoff teams in bold
No. 1 – Oregon
No. 2 – Georgia
No. 3 – Texas
No. 4 – Penn State
No. 5 – Notre Dame
No. 6 – Ohio State
No. 7 – Tennessee
No. 8 – Indiana
No. 9 – Boise State
No. 10 – SMU
No. 11 – Alabama
No. 12 – Arizona State
No. 13 – Miami
No. 14 – Ole Miss
No. 15 – South Carolina
No. 16 – Clemson
No. 17 – BYU
No. 18 – Iowa State
No. 19 – Missouri
No. 20 – Illinois
No. 21 – Syracuse
No. 22 – Army
No. 23 – Colorado
No. 24 – UNLV
No. 25 – Memphis
What is the College Football Playoff first-round schedule?
Indiana vs. Notre Dame: Dec. 20, 8 p.m. ET – South Bend, Indiana (ESPN/ABC)
SMU vs. Penn State: Dec. 21, Noon ET – State College, Pennsylvania (TNT & Max)
Clemson vs. Texas: Dec. 21, 4 p.m. ET – Austin, Texas (TNT & Max)
Tennessee vs. Ohio State: Dec. 21, 8 p.m. ET – Columbus, Ohio (ESPN/ABC)
Who were the teams left out of the College Football Playoff bracket?
Alabama and Miami were the first and second teams to miss a chance to compete in the college football playoff.
No. 11 seed: SMU
The Mustangs will play on the road against Penn State. SMU fell short in the ACC title game against Clemson on Saturday.
No. 10 seed: Indiana
The Hoosiers finished the season with an 11-1 record in the regular season to earn an at-large bid. Indiana will travel to play Notre Dame.
No. 9 seed: Tennessee
The Volunteers will travel to play the Buckeyes. Tennessee finished the regular season with a 10-2 record.
No. 8 seed: Ohio State
The Buckeyes earned the final first-round home game and will host Tennessee. Ohio State is looking to bounce back from a loss to rival Michigan.
No. 7 seed: Notre Dame
The Fighting Irish will host a first-round game against Indiana. Notre Dame won its last 10 games of the season.
No. 6 seed: Penn State
Penn State will host a first-round game against SMU. The Nittany Lions lost the Big Ten Championship Game against Oregon.
No. 5 seed: Texas
The Longhorns received the first at-large bid despite losing the SEC title game. Texas will host ASU.
No. 12 seed: Clemson
Clemson earns an auto berth after beating SMU to win the ACC Championship on Saturday.
No. 4 seed: Arizona State
Coach Kenny Kenny Dillingham and the Sun Devils will have a first-round bye. Arizona State will play in the Peach Bowl on Jan. 1 (1 p.m. ET on ESPN/ABC). Arizona State beat Iowa State 45-19 to win the Big 12 Championship.
No. 3 seed: Boise State
Ashton Jeanty and the Broncos earned the first-round bye and will play in the Fiesta Bowl on Dec. 31 (7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN/ABC). Boise State was ranked No. 9 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings.
No. 2 seed: Georgia
The Bulldogs won the SEC Championship with a victory over Texas on Saturday. Georgia will have a first-round bye and play in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1 (8:45 p.m. ET on ESPN/ABC).
No. 1 seed: Oregon
The Ducks go in as the top seed after winning the Big Ten Championship. Oregon will have a first-round bye and will play in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1 (5 p.m. ET on ESPN/ABC). The Ducks played in Pasadena earlier this season and earned a 34-13 victory over UCLA.
How to watch CFP Rankings release show: Time, TV, streaming
Date: Sunday, Dec. 8
Time: Noon-4 p.m. ET
TV: ESPN
Stream: Fubo
Watch the CFP Rankings Show on ESPN with a Fubo subscription
College Football Playoff bracket predictions
Paul Myerberg, USA TODAY
Oregon
Georgia
Boise State
Arizona State
Penn State
Notre Dame
Texas
Ohio State
Tennessee
Indiana
SMU
Clemson
Bracket – first-round games
No. 5 Penn State vs. No. 12 Clemson
No. 6 Notre Dame vs. No. 11 SMU
No. 7 Texas vs. No. 10 Indiana
No. 8 Ohio State vs. No. 9 Tennessee
When do College Football Playoff rankings come out?
The final College Football Playoff rankings of the 2024 season will be released Sunday, Dec. 8 with a CFP selection show to announce the 12-team playoff field.
Here is the schedule for the College Football Playoff rankings show. All times are Eastern:
Selection Day: Sunday, Dec. 8, noon-4 p.m.
How to watch College Football Playoff rankings show
The College Football Playoff rankings show will air on ESPN, with the broadcast starting at 12 p.m. ET on Sunday, Dec. 8. Fans can also stream the show on Fubo.
How many teams in College Football Playoff 2024?
This season, there are 12 teams in the College Football Playoff for the first time. College football previously introduced the CFP in 2014 with a four-team format. The expansion to 12 teams is set in place for the 2024 and 2025 college football seasons. Leaders within the sport have not agreed to the framework of the playoff beyond that at this point.
How does College Football Playoff format work?
The 12 participating teams in the College Football Playoff bracket will be the five conference champions ranked highest by the CFP selection committee, and the next seven highest-ranked teams.
The four highest-ranked conference champions will be seeded one through four and receive a first-round bye. The fifth conference champion will be seeded where it was ranked among the top 12 teams, or at No. 12 if it is outside the top 12 in the CFP rankings. Non-conference champions ranked in the top four will be seeded beginning at No. 5.
‘Because of this,’ the CFP warns on its website, ‘the seeding, 1 through 12, could look different than the final rankings.’
For the first round, the higher-ranked team in each pairing (5 vs. 12, 6 vs. 11, 7 vs. 10, 8 vs. 9) will serve as host on campus. The winners advance to the quarterfinals and match up with the corresponding top-four conference champion based on seeding. Quarterfinal games will played at the Fiesta Bowl, Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. The semifinals – played at the Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl Classic – will take place Jan. 9-10.
The two semifinal winners will play for the national championship Jan. 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. — Mark Giannotto
CFP championship odds
Here are the latest College Football Playoff title odds from BetMGM:
Oregon (+325)
Georgia (+400)
Ohio State (+400)
Texas (+450)
Notre Dame (+750)
Penn State (+1400)
Tennessee (+2500)
Alabama (+2500)
Clemson (+3000)
Arizona State (+4000)
Indiana (+5000)
SMU (+5000)
Boise State (+5000)
College football bowl game predictions
Sometimes the penultimate weekend of the college football season can make the playoff picture clearer. There are just a handful of championship games left and a finite amount of results combinations can make things easier to predict.
That’s not the case this year, even with the expanded 12-team field in place for the first time. There are at-large candidates with their regular season over and how the committee will sort them is anybody’s guess. There’s five conferences vying for first-round byes and the championship games will sort out those races. And how the seeding among all these teams are impacted by the games this weekend is unclear. — Erick Smith
Heisman Trophy odds
Odds via BetMGM as of Sunday morning:
WR/DB Travis Hunter, Colorado (-2500)
RB Ashton Jeanty, Boise State (+1000)
QB Dillon Gabriel, Oregon (+25000)
QB Cam Ward, Miami (+25000)
When is the Heisman ceremony?
The Heisman Trophy ceremony will begin at 8 p.m. ET in New York on Saturday, Dec. 14. It will be broadcast on ESPN and ESPN+.
CFP National Championship: Time, date and location
The College Football National Championship game will be held at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Monday, Jan. 20 at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Who won the college football national championship last year?
Coach Jim Harbaugh and No. 1 Michigan beat No. 2 Washington 34-13 to win the 2023 national championship in Houston.
Coaches Carousel
While bowl-eligible teams found out where they’ll play, other college programs have taken the first step toward rebuilding.
Hires & Fires
North Carolina: Mack Brown out
Purdue: Ryan Walters out, Barry Odom in
UNLV: Barry Odom out
West Virginia: Neal Brown out
UCF: Gus Malzahn out (resigned), Scott Frost in
Appalachian State: Shawn Clark out, Dowell Loggains in
Florida International: Mike MacIntyre out, Willie Simmons in
East Carolina: Blake Harrell in, Mike Houston out
Fresno State: Matt Entz in, Jeff Tedford out
Southern Miss: Will Hall out, Charles Huff in
Marshall: Charles Huff out, Tony Gibson in
Utah State: Blake Anderson out (cause)
Tulsa: Kevin Wilson out
Charlotte: Biff Poggi out, Tim Albin in
Rice: Scott Abell in, Mike Bloomgren out
Temple: K.C. Keeler in, Stan Drayton out
Central Michigan: Jim McElwain out (retired)
Sam Houston: K.C. Keeler (out)
UMass: Joe Harasymiak in, Don Brown out
Ball State: Mike Uremovich in, Mike Neu out
Kennesaw State: Jerry Mack in, Brian Bohannon out
Florida Atlantic: Zach Kittley in, Tom Herman out
Ohio: Tim Albin out
Retentions & Extensions
Arkansas: Sam Pittman (Retained)
Florida: Billy Napier (Retained)
Baylor: Dave Aranda (Retained)
UAB: Trent Dilfer (Retained)
SMU: Rhett Lashlee (Extended)
Texas State: GJ Kinne (Extended)
BYU: Kalani Sitake (Extended)
Conference Champions:
SEC: Georgia
Big Ten: Oregon
Big 12: Arizona State
ACC: Clemson
MAC: Ohio
Mountain West: Boise State
Sun Belt: Marshall
AAC: Army
Conference USA: Jacksonville State
SWAC: Jackson State
Bowl Game Schedule:
Saturday, Dec. 14
Celebration Bowl: South Carolina State vs. Jackson State
Salute to Veterans Bowl: South Alabama vs. Western Michigan
Tuesday, Dec. 17
Frisco Bowl: Memphis vs. West Virginia
Wednesday, Dec. 18
Boca Raton Bowl: James Madison vs. Western Kentucky
LA Bowl: TBA
Thursday, Dec. 19
New Orleans Bowl: Sam Houston vs. Georgia Southern
Friday, Dec. 20
Cure Bowl: Ohio vs. Jacksonville State
Gasparilla Bowl: Florida vs. Tulane
College Football Playoff first-round game: Indiana at Notre Dame
Saturday, Dec. 21
College Football Playoff first-round game: SMU at Penn State
College Football Playoff first-round game: Clemson at Texas
College Football Playoff first-round game: Tennessee at Ohio State
Monday, Dec. 23
Myrtle Beach Bowl: Coastal Carolina vs. UTSA
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: Northern Illinois vs. Fresno State
Tuesday, Dec. 24
Hawai’i Bowl: South Florida vs. San Jose State
Thursday, Dec. 26
GameAbove Sports Bowl: TBA
Rate Bowl: TBA
68 Ventures Bowl: Arkansas State vs. Bowling Green
Friday, Dec. 27
Armed Forces Bowl: Navy vs. Oklahoma
Birmingham Bowl: Vanderbilt vs. Georgia Tech
Liberty Bowl: Arkansas vs. Texas Tech
Holiday Bowl: Syracuse vs. Washington State
Las Vegas Bowl: USC vs. Texas A&M
Saturday, Dec. 28
Fenway Bowl: TBA
Pinstripe Bowl: Nebraska vs. Boston College
New Mexico Bowl: TCU vs. Louisiana
Pop-Tarts Bowl: Iowa State vs. Miami
Arizona Bowl: TBA
Military Bowl: North Carolina State vs. East Carolina
Alamo Bowl: BYU vs. Colorado
Independence Bowl: TBA
Monday, Dec. 30
Music City Bowl: Iowa vs. Missouri
Tuesday, Dec. 31
ReliaQuest Bowl: Michigan vs. TBA (SEC)
Sun Bowl: TBA
Citrus Bowl: Illinois vs. South Carolina
Texas Bowl: LSU vs. Baylor
College Football Playoff Quarterfinal Game (Fiesta Bowl): Boise State vs. TBD
Wednesday, Jan. 1
College Football Playoff Quarterfinal Game (Peach Bowl): Arizona State vs. TBD
College Football Playoff Quarterfinal Game (Rose Bowl): Oregon vs. TBD
College Football Playoff Quarterfinal Game (Sugar Bowl): Georgia vs. TBD
Thursday, Jan. 2
Gator Bowl: TBA
Friday, Jan. 3
First Responder Bowl: TBA
Duke’s Mayo Bowl: Minnesota vs. Virginia Tech
Saturday, Jan. 4
Bahamas Bowl: Liberty vs. Buffalo
Thursday, Jan. 9
College Football Playoff Semifinal Game (Orange Bowl): TBA
Friday, Jan. 10
College Football Playoff Semifinal Game (Cotton Bowl): TBA
Monday, Jan. 20
College Football Playoff National Championship Game: TBA
We occasionally recommend interesting products and services. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. USA TODAY Network newsrooms operate independently, and this doesn’t influence our coverage.