A Game-Changer: Understanding the 12-Team College Football Playoff Expansion

Ohio State and Notre Dame were the last two teams standing in the first 12-team playoff in college football history as college football playoff expansion changed the landscape of the sport.

Let’s take a closer look at the College Football Playoff format.

Breaking Down The College Football Playoff History

Who Gets Into The College Football Playoffs?

The winners of the five highest-ranked conferences earn spots in the 12-team College Football Playoffs, with the top four conference champions getting a bye into the quarterfinals.

With the dissolution of the Pac-12, at least one of the champions from the Group of Five conferences earns a spot in the CFP. Mountain West champion Boise State not only made the field in 2024 but also earned the No. 3 ranking. That means the Broncos were placed ahead of the champions from the Big 12 and the ACC.

When looking at how the College Football Playoff system works, the other seven spots go to at-large teams. The belief was that the Big Ten and SEC would dominate in that area. Seven of the 12 teams came from those two conferences. It looked like it would be eight, as Alabama was in the projected field going into the conference championship games. However, when SMU lost to Clemson in the ACC title game, both the Mustangs and Tigers earned CFP spots, with Alabama being left out as the CFP expansion did not aid the Crimson Tide in the first season following Nick Saban’s retirement.

When Was The First National Championship Game?

After there were co-champions in both 1990 and 1991, there was growing support for some sort of championship game in college football. It was no easy task with conferences tied into certain bowl games in an era before NCAA football playoff expansion.

While there was no playoff format, on Jan. 1, 1993, No. 2 Alabama defeated No. 1 Miami 34-13 to win the national title as part of the Bowl Coalition.

That didn’t last for long. Florida State topped Nebraska 18-16 in the 1994 Orange Bowl to win the national championship, while the final Bowl Coalition saw Nebraska top Miami 24-17 in the 1995 Orange Bowl.

Next was the Bowl Alliance, with Nebraska winning two of the three titles in that format. In the other title game, Florida, out of the SEC, defeated ACC champion Florida State to win the title.

Before the different bowl systems, the longest winning college football winning streak was set by Oklahoma in the 1950s.

Looking Back At The Bowl Championship Series

While neither the Bowl Coalition nor the Bowl Alliance had much staying power, that was not the case for the Bowl Championship Series, which was used from 1998 to 2013.

The No. 1 team topped the No. 2-ranked squad in the first four BCS championship games before Ohio State’s controversial overtime win over the defending national champion following the 2002 season.

The most memorable of those title games likely came in the 2006 Rose Bowl, when No. 2 Texas, led by dynamic quarterback Vince Young, topped a Southern California team that featured Heisman Trophy winners Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush.

There was still some dissatisfaction with how the final two teams were selected, so the final BCS game was on Jan. 6, 2014, when Florida State defeated Auburn 34-31.

Will There Be More Expansion?

Even before the first whistle was blown in the 2024 College Football Playoffs, a movement was made to expand the field to 14. This came from the power brokers in the Big Ten and the SEC, as those two conferences want to guarantee a minimum number of teams they get into the College Football Playoffs.