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2024–25 College Football Playoff
Season	2024
Semifinals	Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl Classic January 9–10, 2025
Championship	2025 CFP National Championship January 20, 2025
Teams invited	(1) Oregon (2) Georgia (3) Boise State (4) Arizona State (5) Texas (6) Penn State (7) Notre Dame (8) Ohio State (9) Tennessee (10) Indiana (11) SMU (12) Clemson
← 2023–24

The 2024–25 College Football Playoff is an ongoing single-elimination postseason tournament that will determine the national champion of the 2024 NCAA Division I FBS football season. It is the 11th edition of the College Football Playoff (CFP).

Following the first 10 iterations of the College Football Playoff containing four teams, the 2024–25 playoff is the first to contain 12 teams as ranked by the College Football Playoff poll. The five highest-ranked conference champions, including at least one from the Group of Five conferences, have been selected to compete, along with the next seven highest-ranked teams. Furthermore, the four highest-ranked conference champions each received a first-round bye in the playoff.

The playoff bracket's first round games are being held on December 20 and 21 at respective campus sites. In the quarterfinals, scheduled for December 31 and January 1 at the Fiesta Bowl, Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl, and Sugar Bowl, the top four seeds will play teams that won their first-round games. The winners of those games will advance to the semifinals, held at the Cotton Bowl Classic and Orange Bowl, scheduled for January 9 and 10. The winners of those games will play in the College Football Playoff National Championship on January 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.

Games

The tournament is structured as a single-elimination bracket tournament, with 12 teams playing a total of 11 games. The first round features the fifth-highest-ranked conference champion (Clemson) and seven at large bids, seeded based on the final CFP rankings, which were released after conference championship games had been played. The first-round winners advance to face the four highest-ranked conference champions in the quarterfinals. The quarterfinal and semifinal contests utilize six of the 2024–25 NCAA football bowl games. These bowls, commonly known as the New Year's Six, are some of the oldest (and historically, most prestigious) bowl games.

Schedule

All times are Eastern Time • Schedule source

Bracket

Selection and teams

The 2024–25 CFP selection committee was chaired by Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel. Its other members were former Nevada head coach and athletic director Chris Ault, Navy athletic director Chet Gladchuk Jr., former head coach Jim Grobe, former NFL player Randall McDaniel, former head coach Gary Pinkel, Baylor athletic director Mack Rhoades, former head coach Mike Riley, Miami (OH) athletic director David Sayler, former NFL player Will Shields, former USA Today reporter Kelly Whiteside, Virginia athletic director Carla Williams, and Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek.

The first CFP rankings of the season were released on November 5. Oregon was the first No. 1-ranked team of the season, and was projected to earn a first-round bye as leaders of the Big Ten Conference. The other three highest-ranked conference leaders, each in line to earn first round byes, were No. 3 Georgia from the Southeastern Conference (SEC), No. 4 Miami (FL) from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), and No. 9 BYU from the Big 12 Conference. No. 12 Boise State from the Mountain West Conference (MWC) was the highest-ranked Group of Five leader, and the rest of the projected field was filled in by No. 2 Ohio State (Big Ten), No. 5 Texas (SEC), No. 6 Penn State (Big Ten), No. 7 Tennessee (SEC), No. 8 Indiana (Big Ten), No. 10 Notre Dame (FBS independent), and No. 11 Alabama (SEC). During the week following the first rankings release, two top ten teams were defeated, with No. 16 Ole Miss beating Georgia and Georgia Tech upsetting Miami to deal them their first loss of the season. As a result, Miami dropped to No. 9 and Georgia to No. 12. This dropped Georgia out of the projected playoff field, as No. 13 Boise State stood to be selected as the 12-seed by virtue of their position as the highest-ranked Group of Five champion. Texas, Penn State, Indiana, and BYU each moved up to fill out the remainder of the top six behind Oregon and Ohio State, with Texas also becoming the SEC leader in line to earn a first-round bye. Ole Miss also moved into playoff position.

Following the second rankings' release, Georgia's rivalry game victory over Tennessee and Kansas' upset of BYU moved the Bulldogs back into playoff position at the Volunteers' expense while Boise State moved ahead of BYU into position for a first-round bye. After the third rankings' release, Oklahoma's upset of Alabama and Florida's upset of Ole Miss respectively knocked the Crimson Tide and the Rebels out of playoff position. Tennessee moved back into the top 12, while SMU cracked the top 12 for the first time after clinching an ACC Championship Game berth in their first year in the conference. Ohio State's win over Indiana to deal them their first loss of the season also dropped the Hoosiers to 10th, while Arizona State's win over BYU also put them into playoff position as the Big 12 leader.

Following the fourth rankings' release, Ohio State's upset loss to archrival Michigan knocked them down to 6th, while Miami's upset loss to Syracuse knocked them out of playoff position, with Alabama re-entering the top 12. During the conference championships, Georgia beat Texas in overtime in the SEC Championship to secure a berth. Meanwhile, Clemson beat SMU on a last-second field goal to win the ACC Championship and secure a berth, which also gave Boise State and Arizona State first-round byes after they won the Mountain West and Big 12 Championships respectively. SMU's loss to Clemson sparked debate over whether the Mustangs or the Crimson Tide deserved a playoff berth. Alabama had a higher strength of schedule than SMU but had lost to multiple unranked teams – in addition to their loss to Oklahoma, the Crimson Tide had lost to Vanderbilt. The committee ultimately ranked SMU higher than Alabama, giving SMU the final at-large berth in the playoff bracket.

Participants

Game summaries

First round

Indiana at Notre Dame

at Notre Dame Stadium • Notre Dame, Indiana

• Date: December 20, 2024
• Game time: 8:10 p.m. EST
• Game weather: Cloudy • 27 °F (−3 °C)
• Game attendance: 77,622
• Referee: David Alvarez (Big 12)
• TV announcers (ABC/ESPN): Sean McDonough, Greg McElroy, Molly McGrath and Katie George
• ESPN box score / Statbroadcast.com

The 12-team CFP began with the first round game between No. 8 Indiana, the 10-seed, and No. 5 Notre Dame, the 7-seed. It was the 30th all-time meeting between the teams and the first since a Notre Dame win in 1991. The game marked Indiana's CFP debut and Notre Dame's third CFP appearance. Notre Dame's longstanding media rights deal with NBC meant this was the first Fighting Irish home game since 1990 not to air on NBC.

Indiana began the game with the ball and punted on their first drive, and afterward both teams traded interceptions. On the first play of Notre Dame's second drive, running back Jeremiyah Love rushed for a 98-yard touchdown, the game's first score. The Fighting Irish doubled their lead on their next drive following a 5-yard touchdown pass from Riley Leonard to Jayden Thomas, and each team scored a field goal late in the second quarter, leading to a halftime score of 17–3.

Both teams punted on their first drive of the second half, and Notre Dame scored the quarter's only points on a 33-yard field goal by Mitch Jeter with under four and a half minutes to play. Notre Dame attempted another field goal on their next drive, but it was blocked by James Carpenter. After an Indiana punt, their third in three drives, Notre Dame drove 78 yards in nine plays and finished with a 1-yard Leonard touchdown rush to push their lead to 24 points. Indiana responded on their following drive with a 7-yard touchdown pass from Kurtis Rourke to Myles Price; the two-point conversion attempt was successful, as was Hoosiers' ensuing onside kick attempt. Indiana scored again with 25 seconds remaining on a pass from Rourke to Omar Cooper Jr., though this two-point try was no good. Notre Dame then retook possession following a failed onside kick and ran out the clock for a 27–17 victory.

SMU at Penn State

at Beaver Stadium • University Park, Pennsylvania

• Date: December 21, 2024
• Game time: 12:00 p.m. EST
• Referee: David Smith (SEC)
• TV announcers (TNT/Max): Mark Jones, Roddy Jones, Quint Kessenich and Tom Luginbill
• ESPN box score / Statbroadcast.com

No. 10 SMU, recipients of the 11-seed, and No. 4 Penn State, the 6-seed, will each make their respective CFP debuts in their first round game, which will be their third meeting. Penn State leads the series with one win, in 1978, and one tie, in the 1948 Cotton Bowl Classic.

Clemson at Texas

at Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium • Austin, Texas

• Date: December 21, 2024
• Game time: 3:00 p.m. CST
• Referee: Ron Snodgrass (Big Ten)
• TV announcers (TNT/Max): Dave Pasch, Dusty Dvoracek, Taylor McGregor and Laura Rutledge
• ESPN box score / Statbroadcast.com

No. 16 Clemson, seeded 12th, and No. 3 Texas, seeded 5th, will play for the first time in the first round of the CFP. The game will mark Texas's second CFP appearance and Clemson's seventh.

Tennessee at Ohio State

at Ohio Stadium • Columbus, Ohio

• Date: December 21, 2024
• Game time: 8:00 p.m. EST
• Referee: Jerry Magallanes (ACC)
• TV announcers (ABC/ESPN): Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Holly Rowe and Marty Smith
• ESPN box score / Statbroadcast.com

The CFP first round will conclude with a game between No. 7 Tennessee, seeded ninth, and No. 6 Ohio State, seeded eighth. Their only prior meeting was in the 1996 Citrus Bowl, which Tennessee won 20–14. The Buckeyes make their sixth CFP appearance, while the Volunteers make their CFP debut.

References

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• 2024–25 NCAA football bowl games
• 2024–25 College Football Playoff
• December 2024 sports events in the United States
• January 2025 sports events in the United States