Welcome to the New Age of the College Football Playoff

DALLAS, T.X. (PIG TRAIL NATION) – The long-awaited College Football Playoff Expansion is finally here as the tournament shifts from four teams to 12.

Since its inception during the 2014 season, fans all around the country have wanted the CFP to expand its field. 2025 will give fans the first taste of what’s to come, especially after a controversial field during the 2023-2024 season that saw an undefeated Florida State left out of the tournament in favor of Alabama.

The major conference champions are guaranteed an automatic bid to the dance, along with the top group of five team. After that, the CFP committee will have to divvy out the seven at large bids remaining.

CFP Executive Director Rich Clark spent Wednesday morning talking over all of the scenarios that will take place. The two largest factors that influence the committee, record and strength of schedule, are what will have to be balanced when fairly determining the at-large bids.

“When they make those decisions, they’re looking at the full body of work,” Clark told the media in the Dallas ballroom. “Strength of schedule is obviously going to be important with what their record is. The eye test is going to be important, but there’s just a lot of elements that go into it.”

The preparation for selected the 12-team playoff has already begun. Each person on the committee is given an iPad that allows them to watch every single game each week. Clark understands as executive director his job is to oversee the committee and not make the decisions.

It’s easy to talk about who deserves to be in and what may or may not happen, but until the teams hit the field in August, Clark has to make sure that his committee is on task and following the protocols that the commissioners of the conferences laid out.

“I don’t want to actually put a number or proportion to that,” Clark added. “It’s about the collegiality and the hard discussions to make the hard calls is what is going to get it.”

Hard decisions will still have to be made. Just because the playoff is expanded does not mean that every fan base will be happy with the committee’s final decisions. The question remaining is when the CFP decides to expand again.