After years of planning, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) unveiled its new 12 team College Football Playoff (CFP) this year; a departure from the four team playoff that ran from 2014/2015 to 2023/2024. Eight-seed Ohio State, who last won a national championship in 2014/2015 in the first year of the four team format, won the 2024/2025 national championship by a score of 34 to 23 over seven-seed Notre Dame. The 12 teams consisted of the top four conference champions receiving byes into the quarterfinals, seeds five through 11 as at large bids chosen by the committee, and the 12 seed which was reserved for the fifth-highest conference champion. Big Ten Champion Oregon, Southeastern Conference (SEC) Champion Georgia, Mountain West Champion Boise State, and Big 12 Champion Arizona State received the number one through four seeds along with the byes; Texas, Penn State, Notre Dame, and Ohio State received the five through eight seeds which allowed them to host first round games; held on campuses for the first time. Tennessee, Indiana, Southern Methodist University (SMU), and Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Champion Clemson got the nine through 12 seeds and were on the road in the first round of the playoffs.
The CFP bracket is shown below on the right, this year the VRBO Fiesta Bowl, Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl Presented by Prudential, and the Allstate Sugar Bowl were quarterfinals hosts; the CapitalOne Orange Bowl and the Goodyear Cotton Bowl were semifinals hosts.
With this hyped up new format, many were in agreement that the 12 team playoff in its first year was a success; according to a survey published at West, 61.5% of respondents agreed with this.
However, not everyone was in agreement with the new format.
“I did not think the 12 team playoff was a good idea because I like the pros better; they kind of know the game better than college players do so they know how to play better,” freshman Blake Padavich said.
With this playoff being a new and unwavering spectacle, it has a major effect on the sports landscape as a whole.
“It affects it a lot because it’ll give other smaller programs a chance to go on a run throughout the playoffs,” junior Noah Curtis said.
Curtis also suggested a change that should be made to the format going forward.
“I’d probably change the byes that teams get because I ain’t really feel like it’s helping the competition and because all the teams that got byes weren’t even favored. They all lost, … I’d probably not give the byes to the winners of the conferences because like Arizona State and Boise State getting byes didn’t make any sense,” Curtis said.
Seven-seed Notre Dame and two-seed SEC Champion Georgia, who secured a first-round bye, were scheduled to face off in the Allstate Sugar Bowl at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on New Year’s Day 2025; but in the early morning hours that day around 3:15 am CST, a terrorist attack occurred on Bourbon Street in New Orleans’ famous French Quarter. Fourteen people were killed and dozens more were injured, causing a postponement of the game to the next day and sparking an immediate response for better security.
This brought an omen of change throughout the sports world, everyone knew that this was more than just a game and many people criticized ESPN during the game broadcast for not showing patriotic moments that occurred; including USA chants by the fans that remained.
The concern is real, but one student is not worried about it.
“I’ve been to New Orleans before, so I’m not concerned about anything like that happening again with their extra increased security,” sophomore Logan Sherrod said.
After the crazy events and attacks on our country in many different forms throughout the last year, hopefully Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans, the biggest American sporting event of the year, can be completed smoothly and safely.
The NCAA planned this playoff for years and they got tremendous support from it, but also some questions to answer. What is their game plan now?
