College Football Playoff is, finally, expanding, from four to 12, in 2024

The College Football Playoff is expanding from four to 12 in 2024. Not that anybody we cover will be anywhere near it, but this is news.

The first-round games will be played on campus, as should be the case all the way through the semifinals, so there’s work still to do.

The first round features the five through 12 seeds, with the top four seeds getting byes.

Then things move, yawn, to bowl sites, because the bowls somehow still have relevance long past anybody caring.

Enough kvetching. The good news is, we’re going from four to 12.

“We’re delighted to be moving forward,” said Bill Hancock, executive director of the College Football Playoff. “When the board expanded the playoff beginning in 2026 and asked the CFP Management Committee to examine the feasibility of starting the new format earlier, the Management Committee went right to work. More teams and more access mean more excitement for fans, alumni, students and student-athletes. We appreciate the leaders of the six bowl games and the two future national championship game host cities for their cooperation. Everyone realized that this change is in the best interest of college football and pulled together to make it happen.”

The first championship game in the expanded format will be played in Atlanta on Jan. 20, 2025.

The 2025-2026 title game will be played in Miami.

Back in 2022, none of the five Virginia teams in FBS is anywhere near the CFP Top 25, much less the Top 12.

Looking at ESPN’s Football Power Index, our best team is James Madison (8-3, ESPN FPI: 50), with Liberty (8-4, ESPN FPI: 83) and Virginia (3-7, ESPN FPI: 84), Virginia Tech (3-8, ESPN FPI: 93) and ODU (3-9, ESPN FPI: 104) trailing significantly.

The best path to a Top 12 spot is still probably with the ACC schools, just because they’re in the Power 5, but both have first-year coaches whose teams tied for last place in the ACC this year, so, it’s going to be a while for either of them, if ever.

JMU and ODU are in the Sun Belt, which is emerging as perhaps the top conference in the Group of 5, but a Sun Belt team is going to have to run the table to have a chance at a Top 12 spot.

Ditto for Liberty, which is moving to Conference USA next year.