College Football Playoff Schedule Released for 2024 Season – Sports Illustrated

The College Football Playoff released the full schedule for the playoff games in 2024 on Wednesday, giving college football fans a full six months to prepare for watch parties.
The announcement included dates, kickoff times and broadcast information regarding the CFP games. This year's announcement is particularly significant as it's the first year the CFP is doing a 12-team format. The schedule will look different because of that, with a first round and quarterfinals bracket introduced this year.
Take a look at the schedule for the College Football Playoff this upcoming season, all the way up until the National Championship is played on Monday, Jan. 20.
The College Football Playoff will kick off on Friday, Dec. 20 with one first round game being played, followed by the three other first round games taking place on Saturday, Dec. 21.
With 12 teams now competing for the national title, the CFP will be played over the course of a month.
Here's the full broadcast schedule for the playoffs.
Playoff Game
Date
Time
Channel
Playoff First Round
Friday, Dec. 20
8 p.m. ET
ABC/ESPN
Playoff First Round
Saturday, Dec. 21
12 p.m. ET
TNT
Playoff First Round
Saturday, Dec. 21
4 p.m. ET
TNT
Playoff First Round
Saturday, Dec. 21
8 p.m. ET
ABC/ESPN
Playoff Quarterfinals
Tuesday, Dec. 31
7:30 p.m. ET
ESPN
Playoff Quarterfinals
Wednesday, Jan. 1
1 p.m. ET
ESPN
Playoff Quarterfinals
Wednesday, Jan. 1
5 p.m. ET
ESPN
Playoff Quarterfinals
Wednesday, Jan. 1
8:45 p.m. ET
ESPN
Playoff Semifinals
Thursday, Jan. 9
7:30 p.m. ET
ESPN
Playoff Semifinals
Friday, Jan. 10
7:30 p.m. ET
ESPN
National Championship
Monday, Jan. 20
7:30 p.m. ET
ESPN
The College Football Playoff adopted a new team format for the 2024–25 season, so the CFP will look different to fans. The top four ranked teams earn a bye for the first round, meaning the last eight teams will face off in the first round.
The first round will consist of four matchups: No. 5 vs. No. 12, No. 6 vs. No. 11, No. 7 vs. No. 10 and No. 8 vs. No. 9. The winning teams will advance to the quarterfinals to face the top four teams.
The quarterfinal matchups will be played as the Fiesta Bowl, Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl. The Cotton Bowl and the Orange Bowl will act as the semifinals matchup spots.
The 12 teams will be decided by the five highest-ranked conference champions, who receive automatic bids, followed by the seven highest-ranked teams remaining. The top four ranked teams will receive byes in the first round of the playoffs.
The 2023 season still followed the four-team format. But, to help fans understand a bit better about what the 12-team format will look like, here's what last year's playoffs would've turned out with the 12-team format.
No. 1 Michigan, No. 2 Washington, No. 3 Texas and No. 4 Alabama would've all received byes for the first round. They also all four ranked highest in their respective conferences.
No. 5 Florida State would've faced No. 12 Liberty, a team that jumped to the 12th spot over Oklahoma because they won their conference. The rest of the matchups would've been No. 6 Georgia vs. No. 11 Ole Miss, No. 7 Ohio State vs. No. 10 Penn State and No. 8 Oregon vs. No. 9 Missouri.
The National Championship, which takes place on Monday, Jan. 20, will be played in Atlanta, Ga. at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where the Atlanta Falcons play.
MADISON WILLIAMS
Madison Williams is a Staff Writer on the Breaking & Trending News Team at Sports Illustrated, where she has covered the entire sports landscape since 2022. She specializes in tennis, but covers a wide range of sports from a national perspective. Before joining Sports Illustrated, Madison worked with The Sporting News. She hails from Augustana College and completed a Master’s in Sports Media at Northwestern University. Madison is a dog mom and an avid reader.
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