2024 college football preseason playoff, bowl projections - ESPN

The 2024 college football season is nearly here, and while we all look forward to 16 weeks of excitement, upsets and general mayhem, it's hard to not look ahead to what is surely the most anticipated postseason in the sport's history.

In the new, expanded College Football Playoff, the five highest-ranked conference champions will make the 12-team field along with the next seven highest-ranked teams. The four highest-ranked conference champions will be awarded first-round byes, with the other eight teams meeting at the campus sites of seeds Nos. 5 through 8.

From there, the quarterfinals and semifinals will be played in what had been the New Year's Six bowls, with this season's national championship game scheduled for Jan. 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

All of that is just the tip of the iceberg, though. Apart from the playoff is the 36-game slate of bowl games, from the Cricket Celebration Bowl on Dec. 14 to the Bahamas Bowl on Jan. 4.

We're here for all of it.

Although no games have yet been played, ESPN bowl gurus Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach are nonetheless projecting every postseason matchup, including their breakdowns of how the playoff will play out, just to whet your appetite for the mayhem ahead.

And we'll be back every week of the season until the actual matchups are set on Selection Day on Dec. 8.

Jump to a section:
Playoff picks | Quarterfinals
Semis, title game | Bowl season

First-round games

Dec. 20-21 — ABC/ESPN or TNT Sports*
Bonagura: No. 12 Boise State at No. 5 Oregon
Schlabach: No. 12 Memphis at No. 5 Oregon

Bonagura: No. 11 Clemson at No. 6 Alabama
Schlabach: No. 11 Ole Miss at No. 6 Texas

Bonagura: No. 10 Arizona at No. 7 Texas
Schlabach: No. 10 Miami at No. 7 Penn State

Bonagura: No. 9 Penn