All sports and leagues change and develop over time, and with college football having one of the longest-standing histories in all sports, many adjustments were made. However, most fans were accustomed to the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) and how it ranked the best teams in the country to determine a champion.
This computer-based system still caused much debate and drama, so college football transitioned to a merit-based system called the College Football Playoff. Even during this more recent period, change has occurred to the college football schedule as recently as this year, and that’s what we’ve shared in this article.
There’s no doubt the NFL remains king in the major sports leagues in America, but college football isn’t far behind. The two go hand-in-hand, but what separates them is their postseason. While the NFL has always had a bracketed format, albeit one with changes, college football’s postseason has changed far more significantly lately.
It took a while for college football to have oversight by the NCAA, but in the 1970s, they officially established divisions, commonly known as the FBS and FCS today. As far as the postseason is concerned, it was always about bowl season. It consisted of a wide variety of bowl games spread throughout December and January.
The series concluded with four major bowl games: the Fiesta Bowl, Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl, and Sugar Bowl. These games rotated in hosting the championship match between the nation’s top two teams, as determined by the BCS system.
Over time, debates grew louder over the validity of the BCS, which led to the creation of the CFP in 2014. Four teams were selected by a committee of 13 members that would play in a semifinal round followed by a College Football Playoff Championship Game. The new system was welcomed, but like all things, there was still plenty to debate.
The CFP didn’t just bring a new format for the playoff college football schedule; it changed how the teams, programs and schools approached their season. Now that a human element was involved with voters, the criteria were different from the computer-based BCS.
While the criteria are structured in terms of importance, such as conference championships and strength of schedule, the human element can also bring bias, whether conscious or not. This is often referred to as style points, with teams needing to blow out opponents to impress the committee. Of course, it has also impacted how teams plan their schedule, as they want to balance strong opponents and the best chance of success.
We mentioned that the exciting new CFP still created debate, and that was with the four-team format. While it was more than simply taking the top two teams generated by the BCS, it was still a very small sample size, especially given that there were five primary conferences.
That would ultimately leave out one of the Power Five, and sometimes even two, depending on which teams presented themselves as the strongest. Therefore, a cry for an expansion to more teams was heard, and in 2021, the CFP committee announced that they would look into expanding.
That process led to a 12-team format, which is what fans will get to enjoy for the first time in the 2024-25 season.
Speaking of the 2024-25 college football schedule, we’re in for arguably the most exciting in history, especially given the conference realignments. For example, we have new teams in the SEC, no more divisions in the Big Ten and even West Coast teams in the ACC.
As we get set to see how it all plays out, here are some of the most anticipated matchups of the 2024-25 NCAAF season ahead of the first round of the new 12-team CFP on the weekend of December 20-21:
Mark has been a lifelong fan of all sports, and five years ago turned it into a profession, specializing in the NFL, NHL and MLB. He is a diehard Baltimore Ravens fan and has had his work published in sites such as Sports Illustrated, Pickswise and other top outlets.