College Football Playoff changing sport’s post-season landscape

Final Four to determine collegiate football champion

10/17/2014

Chris Price,

The college football season has been turned upside down this season, and not just because Mississippi State and Ole Miss have been at the top of the polls. The dawn of college football’s “Final Four,” a true playoff to decide an NCAA Champion, is here. For the foreseeable future, the top four teams in the country will play a semifinal game on or near January 1, with a championship game to follow roughly 10 days later. Gone is the BCS, and most college football fans would say good riddance.

The format of the playoff will be great for fans, especially traditionalists who like bowl games on or near New Year’s Day. With the new format there will be back-to-back triple headers with playoff semifinals and four premier bowl games on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. The semifinal games will rotate between six current bowl games – Sugar, Rose, Orange, Fiesta, Cotton and Peach. This year, the playoff semifinals will be played in the Sugar and Rose bowls. Those games will feature match-ups of the No. 1 vs. No. 4 and No. 2 vs. No. 3 ranked teams, based on the closest geographic proximity of the No. 1 team. For instance if a team from the SEC is ranked No. 1, they will likely play in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans rather than the Rose in Pasadena, Calif.

The four teams that go to the College Football Playoff are determined by the 13-member College Football Playoff Selection Committee. The selection committee will choose the four teams for the playoff based on strength of schedule, head-to-head results against common opponents, championships won and other factors.

On Sunday, Dec. 7, the committee will announce the playoff semifinal pairings and bowl assignments live on ESPN at 11:45 a.m. Later that day, the committee will announce pairings for the Orange, Cotton, Fiesta and Peach bowls, as well as the final top 25 rankings.

The road to the championship of college football will go through New Orleans this year. It’s exciting to not only be part of change in a sport that doesn’t change often, but to be at the forefront of that change. We are a destination city; a champion one at that.

2014-2015 College Football Playoff & Bowl Schedule

With the new format there will be back-to-back triple headers on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. The semi-final games will rotate between six current bowl games.

Dec. 31

Orange Bowl

Fiesta Bowl

Peach Bowl

Jan. 1

Cotton Bowl

Playoff Semifinals

Rose Bowl

Sugar Bowl

Jan. 12

National Championship in Arlington, Texas

2015 National Championship Game Ticket Prices