College Football Playoff Bracket Breakdown

The College Football Playoff committee officially released the College Football Playoff Bracket on December 8, 2024. They selected 12 teams to compete for the National Championship title in Atlanta, Georgia, on Monday, January 20, 2024. The bracket consists of the four highest-ranked conference champions, who get a first-round bye, with the fifth-highest-ranked conference champion getting an automatic bid. Then, the committee picked seven teams they thought were the best to fill the rest of the spots. 

The highest-ranked team is the Oregon Ducks, the champions of the Big Ten Conference, and the only team in college football to finish their season undefeated. They have the 4th highest efficiency in college football, which consists of the 2nd best offense and 16th best defense. Heisman candidate Dillon Gabriel leads the Ducks offense, and he has one of the best receivers in the country in Tez Johnson. This duo is the best if not second-best duo in all of college football. They have one of the best head coaches in Dan Lanning, who has some of the best plays and helped the Ducks tremendously, including a play where he got a play against Ohio State—in the final seconds got an intentional penalty to drain the clock down and win the game. This is undoubtedly the best team in college football. 

The second seed is the Georgia Bulldogs, the SEC champions. They had a huge overtime win, beating the Texas Longhorns on a game-winning run by Trevor Etienne. During this game, quarterback Carson Beck was injured while attempting to throw the ball. He is not expected to return, as no timeline has been set. They have the 9th-best efficiency and are one of the most balanced teams in college football. 

Due to the rules of the four highest-ranked teams receiving a bye, Boise State is the third seed. They are the champions of the Mountain West and had a one-loss season. This loss came against Oregon in the first game of the season, where they lost by just three points. They have a Heisman runner-up in running back Ashton Jeanty. He is having one of the best seasons of a running back ever, and he would be the favorite if Travis Hunter of Colorado wasn’t being elite on both sides of the ball. They will face the winner of Penn State and SMU. This will be a tough test for the Broncos, especially if it is the Nittany Lions they play. 

The final team that received a bye was the Arizona State Sun Devils, who were Big 12 conference champions. This team was predicted to finish last in the conference pre-season and has been proving teams wrong all season. They have a brilliant head coach in Kenny Dillingham, who has turned the program around in his second season and constantly proves everyone wrong. They might have to face the Texas Longhorns if they get past Clemson in the first round. Texas is many people’s pick to win the National Championship. 

The first-round matchups will be played in the higher-ranked seeds’ home stadiums. The first of these matchups is between 12th-seed Clemson, the champions of the ACC, and the Texas Longhorns. The Texas Longhorns have the best offense in all of college football, with receivers Isiah Bond and Matthew Golden and the second-best quarterback in college football, Quinn Ewers. Along with one of the best defenses in college football and the best linebackers, Anthony Hill Jr and David Gbenda have some of the most tackles and are leaders of the defense. Clemson has a veteran quarterback, Cade Klubnik, and a veteran coach, Dabo Sweeney. They will be 11.5-point underdogs in this game, but anything is possible. 

The best game of the first round will be the 9-seed Tennessee Volunteers, who travel to Ohio Stadium, more well-known as the Horseshoe. The Buckeyes are led by the number 1 recruit in the nation, receiver Jeremaih Smith and veteran quarterback Will Howard while Nico Iamaleva and Dylan Sampson lead the Volunteers. This might be the best game of the season—two teams from the best conference with a few losses who have the talent to win it all. 

Another great game that will take place in South Bend, Indiana where one loss Notre Dame Fighting Irish will take on the most unexpected team out of the Big Ten in the Indiana Hoosiers. The Hoosiers roster is filled with transfers, most of which are from James Madison with a new coach in Curt Cignetti. While veteran transfer quarterback Riley Leonard leads the Irish, they suffered a shocking loss to Northern Illinois. Two teams who might be unexpected to be here in Week 3 are facing off to take on Georgia in the next round. 

The final first-round game has the SMU Mustangs heading to Happy Valley to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions. The Nittany Lions have one of the best defenses led by edge rusher Abdul Carter. The Mustangs had some controversy to get here as they lost the ACC Championship game and made it here over teams from the SEC such as South Carolina, Alabama, and Ole Miss. While these teams did lose to unranked teams, they all had a harder schedule and beat ranked teams. The Mustangs on the other hand had an easier schedule and made their conference championship, and had 2 fewer losses during the regular season, so the committee deemed SMU the better of the teams. They will have to travel North to a cold Happy Valley and be in front of 106,000 people rooting against them. 

The college football playoff will be interesting, and many people are calling for a new format. Certain teams have an easier road to the National Championship than the undisputed number one. In the end, one team will be crowned National Champions in Atlanta on January 20.