College Football Playoff Bracket Projections: Ohio State and Georgia Are The Favorites
The College Football Playoff is shaking things up for the 2024-25 season, rolling out a shiny new 12-team bracket instead of the usual four. Get ready for more teams, more games, and a whole lot more drama!
CFP Projected 12-Team Bracket
It is never too early to see who the experts think will make it to the new 12-team college football playoff.
On3 Sports CFP Bracketology
On3 is not providing a prediction each with their bracket. Bracketology refers to the impact on the potential CFP bracket via results on the field. Hence why we see Georgia Tech listed in the top 4 after their massive upset of Florida State.
Projected Bracket by Odds
If we take a look at the latest college football odds to make the 12-team playoff, the image below would be your projected playoff picture.
How Teams Will Be Chosen in the New CFP Format
Under this new setup, the five highest-ranked conference champions will snag automatic spots in the playoff. As for the remaining seven slots? They’ll be filled by the next top-ranked teams, giving us a grand total of 12 contenders.
The top four teams get the sweet deal of a bye in the first round and head straight to the quarterfinals.
12 Team Playoff Seeding
Those top four conference champions? They’ll be sitting pretty as the No. 1 through No. 4 seeds, enjoying their first-round bye. Meanwhile, seeds 5 through 12 will battle it out in the opening round, with the higher seeds playing host. The first-round matchups will look like this:
- No. 5 vs. No. 12
- No. 6 vs. No. 11
- No. 7 vs. No. 10
- No. 8 vs. No. 9
Once we hit the quarterfinals, the big New Year’s Six bowl games will come into play. The semifinals will rotate between different bowls, keeping things fresh, while the national championship will go to whichever city wins the bidding war. So buckle up, because this new CFP format is about to make college football even more exhilarating!
College Football Playoff Bracket Key Dates
Get ready for a packed calendar of football in December and January. Between the NFL and College Football Playoffs, we will have more football available to us than ever before.
| Round | Dates | Matchup(s) |
|---|---|---|
| First round | December 20-21 | No. 12 at No. 5 No. 9 at No. 8 No. 11 at No. 6 No. 10 at No. 7 |
| Quarterfinals | December 31-January 1 | No. 4 vs. winner of No. 12 vs. No. 5 No. 1 vs. winner of No. 9 vs. No. 8 No. 3 vs. winner of No. 11 vs.. No. 6 No. 2 vs. winner of No. 10 vs. No. 7 |
| Semifinal 1 | January 9 | Capital One Orange Bowl |
| Semifinal 2 | January 10 | Goodyear Cotton Bowl |
| Championship | January 20 | CFP National Championship Game |
Odds to make the College Football Playoffs
There is SO MUCH value on the board when looking at the odds of making the CFP this season. With 12 bracket spots available we could see a late season run by a lower-tier program bring insane ROI potential to the college football betting public.
- Ohio State: -650
- Georgia: -600
- Oregon: -330
- Texas: -220
- Notre Dame: -170
- Mississippi: -165
- Penn State: -145
- Alabama: -105
- LSU: +125
- Michigan: +150
- Miami: +170
- Clemson: +170
- Missouri: +180
- Utah: +190
- Tennessee: +195
- Texas A&M: +240
- Kansas State: +280
- Florida State: +360
- Boise State: +400
- Liberty: +440
- NC State: +470
- USC: +470
- Oklahoma: +490
- Memphis: +500
- Louisville: +500
- Iowa: +550
- Auburn: +700
- Oklahoma State: +700
- Kansas: +800
- UCF: +700
