Ole Miss is a favorite to make it to the College Football Playoffs, but how will the new format work?
With the baseball season in the books the 2023-24 athletic calendar is over for Ole Miss and the summer begins. This means next up is the football season that will kick off the 2024-25 athletic calendar.
Having some downtime before talking season begins in Dallas in less than a couple months now is as good a time as any to give a refresher of how the expanded College Football Playoffs will work. This Fall marks the new 12-team playoffs with the addition of eight more teams.
The Rebels are a popular choice for getting to their first CFP with hopes of a championship runs in both the Southeastern Conference and national titles.
Playing out the hypothetical that Ole Miss gets into the 12-team this December here is how it would do so as there are a few more factors in play since it is not as simple as top four teams get in anymore.
The 12 teams that qualify for the CFP are the five highest-ranked conference champions followed the next seven highest-ranked teams earn spots. There is not a limit on how many teams from one conference can get in but the rules also do not guarantee spots for certain conferences. The champions of the Big 12, SEC, ACC and Big Ten will almost certainly routinely qualify, though, along with the highest-ranked champion from the Mountain West, American Athletic Conference, Sun Belt, Mid-American Conference or Conference USA.
Ole Miss is a top-level contender for the SEC Championship and among the teams with top odds to make it to Atlanta. If this comes to pass then the Rebels would assuredly be a Top 12 team if that scenario plays out.
But the thing to remember is if the Rebels do not win the SEC title game and, lets say Georgia does for sake of argument, and the Bulldogs are ranked No. 1 and the Rebels No. 3 in the CFP ranking they would not be any higher than the No. 5 Seed in the playoffs as three other conference champions and Georgia would automatically be ahead of them.
Any independents like Notre Dame are not eligible for a first-round bye as they cannot win a conference title. Washington State and Oregon State are also in this category which have a temporary scheduling arrangement with the Mountain West and can compete for the national championship but aren’t eligible to win the MWC and don’t constitute a league of their own, per NCAA and CFP rules.
Once teams are seeded on selection day they are final. No re-seeding will take place for the next round.
Ole Miss could secure either a first round bye or an extra home game this season.
The top four seeds will earn an automatic bye to the second round, where the New Year’s Six bowl games begin. Seeds 5 through 12 will play first round games with 5-8 serving as the host teams to 9-12 teams.
If Ole Miss is not able to be in the top four then Vaught-Hemingway Stadium would get an eighth game this season. The first round game would be on either December 20 or 21.
The first round matchups will be:
No. 12 Seed at No. 5 Seed
No. 9 Seed at No. 8 Seed
No. 11 Seed at No. 6 Seed
No. 10 Seed at No. 7 Seed
The quarterfinals will be played on December 31 and January 1 with the Fiesta Bowl, Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl serving as host locations.
Second round matchups will be:
No. 4 Seed plays No. 12/No. 5 Seed winner
No. 1 Seed plays No. 9/No. 8 Seed winner
No. 3 Seed plays No. 11/No. 6 Seed winner
No. 2 Seed plays No. 10/No. 7 Seed winner
The CFP semifinals will be January 9 and 10 with the Orange Bowl (Jan. 9) and Cotton Bowl (Jan. 10) hosting those games. The CFP National Title game will be played on January 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
Ole Miss or whichever teams play in the SEC Championship game on December 7 could potentially play three games in Atlanta over a nine-week span, depending on where that team falls in the bracket and seedings.
The post Ole Miss is a favorite to make it to the College Football Playoffs, but how will the new format work? appeared first on On3.
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