The College Football Playoff Board of Managers unanimously approved a change to the 5+7 model as the expanded 12-team field debuts in the 2024 season, awarding automatic bids to the five highest-ranked conference champions with seven at-large bids filling out the field. It was a change necessitated by the implosion of the Pac-12 as a championship-producing conference, as 10 of those members now reside in the Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC.
Finalizing the format provides the opportunity to take part in an exercise that’s all too familiar around this time of year because of the NCAA Tournament. While CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm and other March Madness Bracketologists are crunching the numbers for a 68-team field on the basketball court, we thought it would be fun to fill out a way-too-early projected bracket for the 12-team College Football Playoff field come December.
Going through this process requires a few points of clarification in the wake of implementation of the 5+7 model.
The four highest-ranked conference champions will get the top four seeds (in order) in the bracket and receive a first-round bye. Those teams may be ranked behind other at-large teams in the final selection committee rankings; but if a team is, for example, the third-highest ranked conference champion, it will jump straight to No. 3. After that, the fifth-highest-ranked conference champion is not guaranteed anything other than a spot in the field. If the fifth-highest-ranked conference champion is ranked behind the seven at-large selections, it will be the No. 12 seed. Higher seeds in the first round host playoff games, either at their home stadium or another location of their designation. After the first round, the six games that make up the quarterfinals and semifinals will…..
