College Football Playoff committee tweaks protocol for 12-team playoff

ATHENS — The College Football Playoff management committee is doing what it can to make sure conference championship games remain relevant.

That group met in Texas this week for the first time in advance of the 2024 season and immediately set about tweaking its formula for the expanded 12-team format that will be instituted this season. Automatic qualifier spots will be reserved for the “five highest-ranked conference champions.”

Previously, four spots were reserved for “conference champions” without further designation.

The change was initiated in an effort to “emphasize the importance of winning that (conference) title,” according to CFP spokesman Brett Daniels.

“Because that recognition is now embedded into the process, it was decided to remove the conference champion designation as a selection criterion when serving as a tiebreaker between comparable teams.”

The Georgia Bulldogs hope to be in the mix when the first CFP selection committees first rankings of the year are revealed Nov. 5. Winners of the 2021 and 2022 CFP championships, the Bulldogs open the 2024 season ranked No. 1 in both the Associated Press’s media poll and the coaches’ poll conducted by USA Today. Georgia also opened the 2023 season ranked first in both polls, but missed the four-team playoff after suffering its only loss of the year to Alabama in the SEC Championship game.

The CFP’s final Top 25 rankings that will determine the 12-team playoff will be announced Dec. 8, the day after all the conference champions are concluded. The CFP Championship game will be hosted by and played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Jan. 20.

The selection committee this week approved the release dates of weekly rankings, all of which will be broadcast on ESPN.

They are: 7-8 p.m. Nov. 5, 9-9:30 p.m. Nov. 12; 7-8 p.m. Nov. 19; 8-9 p.m. Nov. 26; 7-7:30 p.m. Dec. 3; and noon-4 p.m. Dec. 8.

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