The 2024 college football season will see the first 12-team College Football Playoff. This increases the odds for Clemson Football, and all competitive programs, to qualify for a right to play for a national championship.
With the expansion of the playoffs, there will also be a shift in how the New Year’s Six bowl games rotate to host CFP games.
Since the inception of the CFP, the six bowl games – the Cotton, Fiesta, Orange, Peach, Rose, and Sugar Bowls – would rotate which got to host semifinal games. While two hosted CFP games, the other four would host prominent teams in their off years. Each bowl would host a semifinal every third season.
Now there will be six total CFP games hosted by the bowls – two semifinals and four quarterfinals. The national championship game will continue to be hosted independently of the bowl games. The first-round games will be hosted on campuses.
This means the New Year’s Six bowl games will host a CFP game every single season. They will now rotate between hosting a semifinal every third season and quarterfinals in the seasons in between.
This season, the Cotton Bowl and Orange Bowl will host the semifinals. The Orange will be played on January 9th, 2025, while the Cotton will be played the next night on January 10th.
The other games will host quarterfinals this season. The Fiesta will be played on the evening of December 31st, 2024, and the other three will be played on New Year’s Day.
For the 2025 season, the Fiesta Bowl and Peach Bowl will host the semifinals.
There have been no formal announcements beyond that, but the rotation will most likely remain in place, meaning the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl will host semifinals in the 2026 season.
This season’s national championship game will be played in Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, the same place Clemson will open the season against the Georgia Bulldogs. The 2026 national championship game will be played in Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida.