Projected 2024 12-team College Football Playoff bracket with 5+7 model adopted

College Football Playoff: Projected National Quarterfinals

This is yet another interesting wrinkle, or two, in the new College Football Playoff format. Not only are the four highest-ranked conference champions getting a first-round bye, but they will not be playing home games. Instead, they will be at four of the New Year's Six bowl locations. This year, the New Year's Six bowls that will be national quarterfinals are the Fiesta, Peach, Rose and Sugar Bowls.

Here is where the playoff bracket stands now after the four first-round games have been played out.

• No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs vs. No. 8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (Sugar Bowl: New Orleans, LA)
• No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes vs. No. 10 Missouri Tigers (Rose Bowl: Pasadena, CA)
• No. 3 Clemson Tigers vs. No. 6 Oregon Ducks (Peach Bowl: Atlanta, GA)
• No. 4 Oklahoma State Cowboys vs. No. 5 Texas Longhorns (Fiesta Bowl: Glendale, AZ)

Georgia claims the Sugar Bowl as the top seed. Since the Dawgs have not lost to Notre Dame before, that is not happening this year either. Ohio State will go to the Rose Bowl where the Buckeyes will avenge their Cotton Bowl loss to Mizzou. Clemson goes to Atlanta for the Peach Bowl, only to get crushed by a feisty Oregon team. Oklahoma State does not have a party in the Fiesta Bowl vs. Texas.

And guess what? We end up with the four best teams playing each other in the national semifinals!

Advancing Teams: Georgia Bulldogs, Ohio State Buckeyes, Oregon Ducks, Texas Longhorns