College Football Playoff Schedule
Frank Coyle/ Publisher
Dec. 20- Jan 20, 2025
All times Eastern
First round – @ college team sites
Friday, Dec. 20
#10 Indiana at #7 Notre Dame – 8 pm – ABC/ESPN
Saturday, Dec. 21
#11 SMU at #6 Penn State – 12 pm – | TNT
#12 Clemson at #5 Texas – 4 pm – TNT
#9 Tennessee at #8 Ohio State – 8 pm – ABC/ESPN
Quarterfinal Games
Tuesday, Dec. 31
#3 Boise State vs. #6 Penn State/ #11 SMU winner (Fiesta Bowl) – 7:30 pm – ESPN
Wednesday, Jan. 1
#4 Arizona State vs. #5 Texas/ #12 Clemson winner (Peach Bowl) – 1 pm – ESPN
#1 Oregon vs. #8 Ohio State/ #9 Tennessee winner (Rose Bowl) – 5 pm – ESPN
#2 Georgia vs. #7 Notre Dame/#10 Indiana winner (Sugar Bowl) – 8:45 pm – ESPN
Semifinal Games
Thursday, Jan. 9
TBD vs. TBD (Orange Bowl) – 7:30 pm – ESPN
Friday, Jan. 10
TBD vs. TBD (Cotton Bowl) – 7:30 pm – ESPN
Monday, Jan. 20
National Championship Game
TBD vs. TBD (Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia) – 7:30 pm – ESPN
College Football Playoff Rankings
The CFP ranking and seeds differ below. The four teams with playoff byes are in bold.
Here are the final CFP top 25 rankings, with teams in the CFP posting their seeds at the end.
1 Oregon — highest-ranked conference champion (Big Ten) and seeded No. 1
2 Georgia — second-highest-ranked conference champion (SEC) and seeded No. 2
3 Texas — at-large pick (second team from the SEC), seeded No. 5
4 Penn State — at-large pick (second team in the Big Ten), seeded No. 6
5 Notre Dame — at-large pick (independent), seeded No. 7
6 Ohio State — at-large pick (third team from the Big Ten), seeded No. 8
7 Tennessee — at-large pick (third team from the SEC), seeded No. 9
8 Indiana — at-large pick (fourth team from the Big Ten), seeded No. 10
9 Boise State — third-highest-ranked conference champion (Mountain West) and seeded No. 3
10 SMU — at-large pick (from the ACC), seeded No. 11
11 Alabama — first team out of the CFP
12 Arizona State — fourth-highest-ranked conference champion (Big 12) and seeded No. 4
13 Miami (Fla.) – second team out of the CFP
14 Ole Miss – third team out of the CFP
15 South Carolina – fourth team out of the CFP
16 Clemson – fifth-highest-ranked conference champion (ACC) and seeded #121
17 BYU – fifth team out of the CFP
18 Iowa State – sixth team out of the CFP
19 Missouri – seventh team out of the CFP
20 Illinois – eighth team out of the CFP
21 Syracuse – ninth team out of the CFP
22 Army – 10th team out of the CFP
23 Colorado – 11th team out of the CFP
24 UNLV – 12th team out of the CFP
25 Memphis – 13th team out of the CFP
Boise State won the Mountain West Conference championship and lost to only top-ranked Oregon. They are the third-highest-ranked conference champion and thus received a bye into the quarterfinals despite ranking No. 9. Arizona State is ranked only #12, the Sun Devils are the fourth-highest ranked conference champion over the ACC champ #16 Clemson. They earned the #4 seed and the final first-round bye. Both Texas and Penn St remained in the top four seeds despite losing conference title matchups in their final games.
The four quarterfinal games are not played at the campus sites. These four games — scheduled on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 — will be played at the Fiesta Bowl, Rose Bowl, Peach Bowl and Sugar Bowl. The four highest-ranked conference champions will be assigned one of these bowls in consideration of historic bowl relationships as well as seeding.
The four quarterfinal winners will meet in the semifinals at either the Orange Bowl or the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 9 and Jan. 10. If the seeds hold, that means (1) would meet (4) and (2) would play (3). The two semifinal winners will then play on Jan. 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta for the national championship.
