The College Football Playoff released its schedule for the 2024-25 postseason on Wednesday with the new 12-team bracket format offering head-scratching assignments for the so-called New Year’s Six bowl games, particularly the Rose Bowl.
Under the new format and schedule, the teams seeded No. 5 through No. 12 will square off in four first-round games hosted at the higher seed’s campus. The four top-ranked conference champions will earn a bye into the quarterfinals where they’ll face the first-round winners in a New Year’s Six bowl, either the Fiesta, Rose, Peach or Sugar.
The semifinals will be hosted by the two remaining New Year’s Six bowls on a rotating basis (the Orange and Cotton Bowls have this season) while the national championship site will be decided via bids by prospective cities.