Viewer's guide to the new College Football Playoff
Everything you need to know for the first 12-team postseason
After years of waiting for a bigger and better College Football Playoff, the moment is finally here. And the quarterfinals are set after a weekend of blowouts by favorites.
The inaugural 12-team field has had a few surprises after a season wrought with chaos. Alabama was the last team out as the CFP committee selected SMU for its last at-large spot. Ohio State, Notre Dame, Penn State and Texas all hosted playoff games on campus for the first time ever — and all four home teams won their games going away. Now we have quarterfinal showdowns between Oregon-Ohio State, Georgia-Notre Dame, Boise State-Penn State and Arizona State-Texas.
Here's everything you need to know in our viewer's guide to the new College Football Playoff.
College Football Playoff first round
College Football Playoff quarterfinals
Fiesta Bowl: Boise State vs. Penn State
Dec. 31, 7:30 p.m. ET | Location: Glendale, Ariz. | TV: ESPN | Line: PSU -10
Peach Bowl: Arizona State vs. Texas
Jan. 1, 1 p.m. ET | Location: Atlanta, Ga. | TV: ESPN | Line: Texas -13.5
Rose Bowl: Oregon vs. Ohio State
Jan. 1, 5 p.m. ET | Location: Pasadena, Calif. | TV: ESPN | Line: OSU -1.5
Sugar Bowl: Georgia vs. Notre Dame
Jan. 1, 8:45 p.m. ET | Location: New Orleans, La. | TV: ESPN | Line: Georgia -1.5
College Football Playoff semifinals
Orange Bowl: TBD
Jan. 9, 7:30 p.m. ET | Location: Miami, Fla. | TV: ESPN
Cotton Bowl: TBD
Jan. 10, 7:30 p.m. ET | Location: Dallas, Texas | TV: ESPN
College Football Playoff National Championship
Jan. 20, 7:30 p.m. ET | Location: Atlanta, Ga. | TV: ESPN
College Football Playoff bracket, expert predictions
Nearly seven years in the making, the expanded College Football Playoff will make its debut this season with Indiana at Notre Dame on Friday. How will it all shake out over the next month?
Here are our expert predictions for how the inaugural 12-team playoff will unfold.
Will CFP format change again in the near future?
The SEC's title hopes are down to Georgia, Texas and Tennessee after Alabama was left out of the College Football Playoff, and its commissioner is already mulling potential changes to the playoff format.
Ross Dellenger reports on potential CFP format changes that are being considered, including changes to the first-round bye rule, designating more automatic berths for certain conferences and expanding the field.
Complete college football bowl schedule
It's the most glorious time of the year and it's a bit different this season. The 12-team College Football Playoff has given us more games and also juggled the bowl schedule. Bowl season began on Dec. 14 and now ends on Jan. 4 for the non-playoff bowls. After Jan. 4, there are still three playoff games to go as the national championship game is on Jan. 20. Here is the complete schedule of games.
