College Football Playoff History

• Why college football moved past the BCS era and created the College Football Playoff.
• Timeline and key events that led to CFP expansion.
• Future CFP expansion on the horizon.

Teenagers entering high school in 2025 have grown up with the College Football Playoff, the now-annual postseason tournament that determines who wins the national championship.

It wasn’t always that way.

For the first century of the sport’s history, various groups of voters determined a college football national champion, and it was rare when the top teams in contention played against one another. More confusing, there were multiple organizations crowning different national champions. That’s one reason some schools claim more national championships than the NCAA officially recognizes.

In 1998, at long last, college football took a major step forward in legitimizing its national championship process. It created the Bowl Championship Series — more commonly referred to as the BCS. Computers were involved and paired the No. 1 team in the BCS ranking vs. the No. 2 team in a BCS national championship game.

Even that was filled with controversy, as teams ranked No. 3, No. 4 and sometimes even No. 5 believed they were the best in the country and should have been selected to play for the national championship.

In 2003, for instance, LSU, Oklahoma and USC each finished the regular season with 1 loss. The AP poll and Coaches poll ranked USC No. 1, but because of other factors, USC fell to No. 3 in the final, computer-driven BCS ranking. LSU and Oklahoma moved into the top 2 spots and played for the BCS national championship. LSU beat Oklahoma to win the BCS national championship. Typically, AP voters would have then selected the BCS champion as its champion, too. That didn’t happen. After USC beat Michigan in the Rose Bowl, AP voters crowned the Trojans as its national champion. That was the last time college football produced split national champions.

It could have happened again, however. In 2004, USC, Oklahoma and Auburn finished the regular season undefeated. The BCS computer determined that No. 1 USC would play No. 2 Oklahoma. No. 3 Auburn was relegated to the Sugar Bowl, where the Tigers defeated Virginia Tech to finish a perfect 13-0 season. USC dominated Oklahoma in the BCS national championship game to claim the official national title, but, to this day, Auburn still believes it should have been crowned national champion — or, at minimum, been selected to play USC for the BCS national title.

The BCS system existed from 1998-2013. It was an obvious improvement — with obvious room for improvement. College football still was using 1 game — with opponents picked by a computer — to crown a national champion. No other sport operated like this. Every other sport — including Division II and FCS football — employed some type of tournament.

The tipping point came in 2011, when 1-loss Alabama finished No. 2 in the final BCS rankings, ahead of 3 other 1-loss teams. The Crimson Tide faced No. 1 LSU, which had defeated Alabama 9-6 in the regular season. Alabama beat LSU 21-0 in the BCS National Championship Game.

Almost immediately, the push to create a real tournament began.

On June 26, 2012, conference commissioners voted to adopt a 4-team College Football Playoff, set to begin in 2014, The CFP — or Playoff — would pit the top 4 teams in the country. College football’s version of the Final Four, if you will.

Instead of computers selecting the teams, a 12-person Playoff Selection Committee determined which 4 teams would play for the national title. Criteria was established, or at least suggested. Power conference champions, for instance, were looped upon favorably, but that wasn’t a guarantee of making the 4-team Playoff field. After all, every year, there would be 5 Power conference champions vying for the 4 Playoff spots. Plus Notre Dame. And what would happen if 2 teams from the same conference were good enough to merit inclusion?

It didn’t take long for those questions to be raised and debated.

In 2014, the inaugural year of the 4-team Playoff, the selection committee changed course after conference championship weekend and created all kinds of controversy.

Background: No. 3 TCU, No. 4 Florida State and No. 5 Ohio State all played on conference championship weekend. The Big 12 didn’t have a conference championship game, but TCU blasted Iowa State 55-3. Florida State won the ACC Championship, and Ohio State won the Big Ten Championship.

FSU was an undefeated, defending national champion, so the Seminoles were a lock to make the Playoff. TCU finished with 1 loss — by 3 points at ranked Baylor. Ohio State also had 1 loss — by 14 points, at home, to Virginia Tech.

Many observers assumed that because all 3 teams won on the final weekend, the final Playoff rankings wouldn’t change. After all, the committee had ranked TCU well ahead of Ohio State to that point.

Instead, hours after championship weekend, the Playoff Selection Committee jumped Ohio State to No. 4 and dropped TCU from No. 3 to No. 6. TCU fans were rightly outraged.

Ohio State went on to win the 2014 national championship, but already fans, coaches, media and college football power brokers were pushing to expand the tournament again.

Almost every year after, controversy followed the final reveal of the 4 teams selected to the Playoff.

In 2016, Penn State defeated Ohio State in the regular and won the Big Ten Championship, but missed the Playoff. The committee selected 1-loss Ohio State instead.

In 2017, ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit famously stormed off the set after the committee selected Alabama over Ohio State for the 4th and final spot. Alabama had 1 loss and didn’t make it to the SEC Championship Game. Ohio State had 2 losses, but won the Big Ten Championship. The 2017 field included 2 SEC teams — Georgia and Alabama — and no Big Ten teams. That also was the year UCF went undefeated but finished No. 12 in the final Playoff ranking. The Knights then won their bowl game to finish 13-0 and promptly declared themselves the 2017 national champion.

In 2018, Notre Dame was selected over Big Ten champion Ohio State.

In 2020, Ohio State was selected over Texas A&M despite playing just 5 games.

In 2021, Cincinnati became the first Group of 5 program selected to the Playoff, and Georgia was included hours after losing the SEC Championship Game by 17 points.

In December of 2022, university presidents agreed to expand the Playoff to 12 teams — beginning in 2024. That meant the 4-team format still had 1 more year.

And in 2023, the final year of the 4-team Playoff, Florida State became the first power conference team to finish undefeated, win its conference championship game and not make the Playoff field. There were extenuating circumstances, however. Star quarterback Jordan Travis suffered a season-ending injury late in the regular season, and the Seminoles were not the same without him.

That same year, 2-time defending national champion Georgia fell from No. 1 to No. 5 after losing the SEC Championship Game by 3 points to Alabama. That was the Dawgs’ only loss — and it prevented them from trying to become the first modern team to win 3 consecutive national championships.

Had the university presidents agreed to switch to a 12-team Playoff in 2023, Georgia would have been included in the Playoff field and had a chance to make history.

Instead, the 12-team Playoff format was unveiled in 2024 — and the seeding structure was criticized so robustly, so universally that change was inevitable.

In 2025-26, the seeds will mirror the committee’s ranking, 1 through 12. In 2024-25, the 4 highest ranked conference champions were rewarded with the top 4 seeds, regardless of where the committee actually ranked them.

Further expansion remains possible. The sport’s biggest power brokers — the SEC and Big Ten — both want a guaranteed number of their teams in future Playoffs, but neither can agree on a format. And other conferences, including the ACC and Big 12, disagree vehemently with any future format guaranteeing the SEC and/or Big Ten a guaranteed number of spots.

College Football Playoff Timeline

• 1936-1997: AP, Coaches, UPI and other organizations voted for a college football national champion.
• 1998-2013: Bowl Championship Series (BCS) era. Computers ranked the Top 25 teams, with No. 1 playing No. 2 in the BCS National Championship Game.
• June 26, 2012: Conference commissioners approved the 4-team Playoff format, beginning with the 2014 season.
• 2014-2023: 4-team College Football Playoff era. A 12-person selection committee ranked the Top 25 teams, with the top 4 teams advancing to the College Football Playoff tournament.
• 2024-present: 12-team College Football Playoff era. A 12-person selection committee ranks the Top 25 teams, with the top 12 advancing to the College Football Playoff tournament.
• New in 2025: The Selection Committee will seed all 12 Playoff teams according to their ranking. In 2024, the top 4 seeds were reserved for conference champions, regardless of their ranking.

College Football Playoff Champions

Saturday Down South has a complete list of every college football national champion. Here’s an abbreviated look at the Playoff-era national champions:

• 2024-25: Ohio State defeated Notre Dame 34-23.
• 2023-24: Michigan defeated Washington 34-13.
• 2022-23: Georgia defeated TCU 65-7.
• 2021-22: Georgia defeated Alabama 33-18.
• 2020-21: Alabama defeated Ohio State 52-24.
• 2019-20: LSU defeated Clemson 42-25.
• 2018-19: Clemson defeated Alabama 44-16.
• 2017-18: Alabama defeated Georgia 26-23 (OT).
• 2016-17: Clemson defeated Alabama 35-31.
• 2015-16: Alabama defeated Clemson 45-40.
• 2014-15: Ohio State defeated Oregon 42-20.

Chris Wright

Managing Editor

A 30-time APSE award-winning editor with previous stints at the Miami Herald, The Indianapolis Star and News & Observer, Executive Editor Chris Wright oversees editorial operations for Saturday Down South.