The College Football Playoff now uses a 12‑team format, and only certain postseason games are CFP “playoff” games. These are different from the many other regular bowl games.
CFP bowl games
Under the 12‑team setup, the following are the bowl games that serve as playoff games in a given season, in addition to first‑round games played on campus sites:
- Quarterfinal bowls: Cotton Bowl, Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl
- Semifinal bowls: Two of the traditional “New Year’s Six” bowls (for example, Fiesta and Peach in some years, or Orange and Cotton in others, depending on the rotation)
- National Championship: A standalone title game at a neutral site, which is not branded as a traditional bowl but is part of the playoff.
So, the playoff consists of first‑round campus games, quarterfinals at the Cotton/Orange/Rose/Sugar Bowls, rotating semifinals at major bowls, and the national championship game; all other postseason bowls are not playoff games.
