A new era of college football begins this season as for the first time, 12-teams will be selected to compete in a college football playoff, and Penn State is hoping to be one of them.
Will it be perfect and without disagreement? Of course not. But at least they’ll be more teams receiving the opportunity to qualify for the playoffs. 12-teams is a start, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see that number increase in the coming years.
The 12-teams will be selected by the College Football Playoff selection committee and will be comprised of the five highest-ranked conference champions with the final seven spots going to the remaining seven highest-ranked teams.
Once the 12 teams are determined, the four highest-ranked conference champions receive byes into the quarterfinals and will be seeded No. 1-4 regardless of their selection committee ranking.
Brett McMurphy is one of the most respected college football insiders, in particular his history of forecasting what bowl games teams will be selected to play in.
With the 2024-25 college football kicking off this weekend, McMurphy is releasing his preseason bowl and college football playoff rankings. Keep in mind, in last year’s preseason projections, McMurphy correctly predicted 59 of the 82 teams that went to a bowl game, including 10 teams in the correct bowl and two of the four playoff teams.
We’ll look back at the end of the season but here’s McMurphy’s initial projection of who will receive the 12 college football playoff spots.
BRETT MCMURPHY’S PROJECTED COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF FIELD:
- OREGON
- ALABAMA
- MIAMI, FLA.
- UTAH
- OHIO STATE
- GEORGIA
- OLE MISS
- LSU
9. PENN STATE - VIRGINIA TECH
- IOWA
- TEXAS STATE
COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF FIRST ROUND MATCHUPS
Penn State vs. LSU
Texas State vs. Ohio State
Iowa vs. Georgia
Virginia Tech vs. Ole Miss
COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF QUARTERFINALS
Utah vs. Ohio State
Alabama vs. Ole Miss
Oregon vs. Penn State
Miami vs. Georgia
COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF SEMIFINALS
Alabama vs. Georgia
Oregon vs. Ohio State
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Oregon vs. Georgia
