College Football Playoff Executive Director Outlines Year One of 12-Team Playoff – Sports Illustrated

The College Football Playoff will reveal its first edition of the 12-team playoff rankings on Tuesday, Nov. 5.
As such, CFP executive director Rich Clark met with the media on Wednesday ahead of the first playoff rankings, which will debut next week. Plenty is known about the playoff's structure and how it will work, but some unknowns remain about what criterion the committee will find important, how teams will be seeded, and more.
Clark did his best to clarify some things as he was peppered with questions on a Wednesday conference call with the media.
In the four-team playoff, teams were often penalized for losing their conference title game, which is something that Clark doesn't forsee happening quite as often now that the bracket has expanded.
"I don't think a team would be unduly penalized if they lost in a conference championship game," Clark said.
Additionally, there have been concerns from college football fans about how seeding would be impacted if the committee looked to avoid regular season or conference championship game rematches in the playoff. On that front, Clark said that the committee will not manipulate the bracket and over-seed or under-seed teams to avoid rematches.
"[Rematches] are going to happen," Clark said when asked about the possibility.
One final point that had yet to be addressed by the committee was how it would determine which quarterfinal or semifinal bowl game teams would go to if they advanced past the first round of the playoff. Clark had a frank response on how that would be handled, telling the media that once the selection committee sets the final playoff bracket following the conference championship games, it will also set the bowl locations for the quarterfinal and semifinal games that teams will attend. There will not be a situation where a team is set to play in the Cotton Bowl for a quarterfinal or semifinal and then gets re-routed to the Orange Bowl, for example, according to Sports Illustrated's Bryan Fischer.
CFP leadership has also clarified that once the Selection Committee sets the playoff bracket, it will also set the bowl locations for the quarterfinal and semifinal games teams will go to. No changing teams' routes from Cotton Bowl to Orange Bowl for example.
The first 12-team playoff will add plenty of intrigue this postseason, and the fun begins with the first committee rankings next week.
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Mike McDaniel is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where he has worked since January 2022. His work has been featured at InsideTheACC.com, SB Nation, FanSided and more. McDaniel hosts the Hokie Hangover Podcast, covering Virginia Tech athletics, as well as Basketball Conference: The ACC Football Podcast. Outside of work, he is a husband and father, and an avid golfer.
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