The first edition of the 12-team College Football Playoff resulted in an unmistakable pattern after the four quarterfinal bowl games, and fans are already calling for an overhaul to the format in response.
No. 2 seed Georgia’s 23-10 loss to No. 7 Notre Dame on Thursday was the final data point needed for fans to make up their minds, following losses by No. 1 Oregon, No. 3 Boise State and No. 4 Arizona State to lower-seeded opponents.
The top four seeds went 0-4 in the quarterfinals, which was enough for some critics to call for an end to the one thing they all had in common: a first-round bye.
Georgia Bulldogs wide receiver Dillon Bell (86).
© Amber Searls-Imagn Images
“Next year there shouldn’t be any bye weeks, all those teams have played terribly,” wrote a user on X after the Sugar Bowl.
All four top seeds went behind early in their quarterfinals, following bye weeks with slow starts. After the first quarter of each game, Boise State trailed No. 6 Penn State 14-0 and Arizona State fell behind to No. 5 Texas 14-3.
Notre Dame led Georgia 13-3 at halftime, with the Bulldogs falling into a 20-3 hole by the third quarter.
Oregon faced the worst fate of all in the Rose Bowl on Wednesday, giving up a touchdown to No. 8 Ohio Statein the first minute of the game and trailing 34-0 by the second quarter.
“So next season, maybe no bye week for the top seeds????” suggested an alarmed fan.
No surprise that all the teams that sat around for almost a month lost all of their matchups,” wrote a college football fanatic. “NCAA needs to fix the format from seeding to Bye weeks etc.”
Oregon, Georgia, Boise State and Arizona State each had 24 days off between their conference championship games and their first playoff games.
Can we just get to the 16 team playoff with no bye weeks now?” begged another post.
The College Football Playoff is locked into a 12-team field until 2026, but executive director Rich Clark saidin July 2024 that CFP’s management committee could reconsider the format for the 2025 season.