Tomorrow we will finally arrive at the day we have all been waiting for. The College Football Playoffs will commence tomorrow at 4 PM EST kicking off with the Fiesta Bowl TCU vs. Michigan. The nightcap will feature the defending national champions Georgia taking on the 4th seed Ohio State.
With the playoff kicking off on New Year’s Eve tomorrow, this will be the ninth set of this tournament. So it had me thinking about what all teams have appeared in the College Football Playoffs, and who have all scored wins. We will not have this exact format for much longer as college football is set to expand its playoffs soon. So let’s reflect and check the College Football Playoffs Appearances.
College Football Playoff Appearances By Conference
ACC: 8 (6-6)
Big 10: 8 (3-5)
Big 12: 5 (0-4)
PAC 12: 2 (1-2)
SEC: 11 (14-5)
AAC: 1 (0-1)
Independent: 1 (0-1)
As you can see the conference everyone considers the “best” in college football currently has the most appearances by an impressive margin. The PAC 12 has not sent a team to the college football playoffs since Washington in 2016. This year in 2022 the Big Ten is now the third conference to send multiple teams to the playoffs (Michigan and Ohio State). The SEC completed that task in 2017 and 2021. While the ACC sent Clemson and Notre Dame in 2020, during the COVID season when Notre Dame had temporary full membership.
Tomorrow night the Big 12 will be looking for their first-ever win in the playoffs through TCU. Oklahoma was the only other Big 12 team to make the CFP, but they have an 0-4 record. Cincinnati from the AAC broke the ceiling for Group of Five conferences, but the Bearcats will be moving to the Big 12 soon.
College Football Playoff Appearances by Team
Alabama: 7 (9-4 Record with three national championships)
Clemson: 6 (6-4 Record with two national championships)
Ohio State: 5 (3-3 Record with one national championship)
Oklahoma: 4 (0-4 Record)
Georgia: 3 (3-1 Record with one national championship)
Notre Dame: 2 (0-2 Record)
Michigan: 2 (0-1 Record)
LSU: 1 (2-0 Record with one national championship)
Oregon:1 (1-1 Record)
TCU: 1 (Will be making their first appearance tomorrow)
Florida State: 1 (0-1 Record)
Michigan State: 1 (0-1 Record)
Washington: 1 (0-1 Record)
Cincinnati: 1 (0-1 Record)
The Alabama – Clemson rivalry in this era of college football drew similarities to the Lakers – Celtics from the 80’s. It seemed like almost every year in this era, these two were on a clash collision course. In nine seasons of the College Football Playoffs, these two have met four separate times.
Then you have certain bluebloods that have a combined 0-7 record (Michigan, Notre Dame, and Oklahoma). Meanwhile, TCU is making its first appearance. In the whole state of Texas, everyone probably thought the Longhorns or Aggies would have made it first. Yet TCU who isn’t far removed from being in a G5 conference is making the first appearance for the Great State of Texas.
Every other team in the College Football Playoffs this season has been there before. Only Ohio State and Georgia have won a national championship in this format.
Future Expansion
This season and the next will be the last two under this four-team format. Starting in 2024 the College Football Playoffs will expand to 12 teams. Here is how the playoffs will be formatted via Wikipedia.
- Guaranteed bids for the top six conference champions in the CFP rankings; no conference will have an automatic bid.
- At-large bids for the six highest-ranked remaining teams which could include additional conference champions.
- The four highest-ranked conference champions will receive first-round byes.
- The remaining teams will play each other in the first round at the home fields of the better seeds, matched in the standard format of 5–12, 6–11, 7–10, and 8–9.
- The quarterfinals and semifinals will be hosted by the Cotton Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl, Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl, and Sugar Bowl on a rotating basis.
- The championship game will continue to be held at a separately determined neutral site.
- The playoff bracket would not be reseeded at any time.
- First-round games will occur in December, quarterfinal games on or around New Year’s Day, semifinal games at least one week later, and the championship game one week after the semifinals.
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