Locations of 2023–24 CFP bowls – National Championship, – Semifinal Bowl, – Non-semifinal bowl
The College Football Playoff system is used to determine a national championship of Division I FBS college football. A committee of experts ranked the top 25 teams in the nation after each of the last seven weeks of the regular season. The top four teams[c] in the final ranking are then seeded in a single-elimination semifinal round, with the winners advanced to the National Championship game. This playoff was the last to use a four-team bracket, with the College Football Playoff set to expand to 12 teams in 2024.[2]
On December 3, 2023, the College Football Playoff committee announced that it had selected Michigan, Washington, Texas, and Alabama to participate in the 2023–24 College Football Playoff. The committee's decision to select the Southeastern Conference's (SEC) Alabama (12–1) instead of the Atlantic Coast Conference's (ACC) Florida State (13–0), who became the first undefeated Power Five conference team to not qualify for the playoff, received intense criticism from fans, writers, and commentators. Specifically, several of these viewers accused the committee of corruption, bias, and favoritism towards the SEC.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9] The CFP committee chair and others defended the selection of Alabama, which defeated five ranked teams (compared to Florida State's three) during the season, including No. 1 ranked Georgia in the last game of the SEC season, saying that Alabama was currently the better team overall.[10][11][12][13]
† Semifinal teams were chosen by the selection committee.
‡ Semifinal winners advanced to the championship game.
Non-CFP bowl games
Several bowl name changes were made, as compared to the prior season's bowl games:
Due to construction at its normal stadium, the Bahamas Bowl was temporarily relocated to North Carolina and branded as the Famous Toastery Bowl per its title sponsor.[15]
Due to a change in title sponsor, the LendingTree Bowl was renamed as the 68 Ventures Bowl.[16]
Sponsor Kellogg's (renamed Kellanova in October 2023, after the company's North American cereal business was spun off as the WK Kellogg Co[17][18]) renamed the Cheez-It Bowl as the Pop-Tarts Bowl.[19]
Rankings are per the final CFP rankings that were released on December 3.
Each of these games featured college seniors, or players whose college football eligibility was ending, who were individually invited by game organizers. These games were scheduled to follow the team-competitive bowls, to allow players selected from bowl teams to participate. Such all-star games may include some players from non-FBS programs.
The NFLPA Collegiate Bowl, which debuted in 2012 and was played 12 times through January 2023, was discontinued. The East–West Shrine Bowl relocated from Nevada (where its prior two editions had been played) to Texas.
The College Football Playoff (CFP) selection committee announced its final team rankings for the season on December 3, 2023. It was the 10th season of the CFP era, and the last one with a four-team playoff. This was the first time that an undefeated Power Five conference champion (Florida State) was left out of the semifinals.[26]
Generally, a team must have at least six wins to be considered bowl eligible, with at least five of those wins being against FBS opponents. The College Football Playoff semifinal games are determined based on the top four seeds in the playoff committee's final rankings. The remainder of the bowl-eligible teams are selected by each respective bowl based on conference tie-ins, order of selection, matchup considerations, and other factors.
Number of bowl berths available: 82 Number of bowl-eligible teams: 79 Number of conditionally bowl-eligible teams: 2: (Jacksonville State and James Madison)[f] Number of teams qualified by APR: 1 (Minnesota)[27]
† Boise State, UNLV, and San José State all finished with a 6–2 conference record, creating a three-way tie. Since all three teams did not face each other during the season, and none of the teams were in the College Football Playoff (CFP) rankings before the conference championship game, the three-way tie was broken by a composite average of computer rankings from Anderson & Hester, Colley Matrix, Massey and Wolfe. UNLV finished with the best average rankings at 44.5, while Boise State came in second at 55.75 and San José State third at 58.5. Therefore, the Broncos and Rebels secured their spots in the MW Championship. UNLV and Boise State did not play each other during the regular season. The Rebels' superior average computer ranking earned them the right to host the title game.[29]
Conference champions' bowl games
Ranks are per the final CFP rankings, released on December 3, 2023, with win–loss records at that time.
^41 FBS bowl games, the College Football Playoff National Championship Game, and 1 FCS bowl game
^Dates reflect Division I team-competitive bowl games, and exclude all-star games and bowl games in lower divisions.
^The playoff is scheduled to expand to 12 teams, starting with the 2024–25 bowl season.[1]
^The Liberty Flames were one of only four FBS teams in 2023 with an undefeated pre-bowl season,[14] but finished much lower in the CFP rankings as they compete in Conference USA (C-USA), one of the Group of Five conferences, generally regarded as less challenging than the Power Five conferences. However, they are the first C-USA team to compete at this level of bowl game in the history of the Bowl Championship Series (1998–2013) and the subsequent College Football Playoff system, introduced in 2014.
^Despite having a 5–7 record, Minnesota became bowl eligible due to having the highest Academic Progress Rate among five-win teams.
^ abcAs there were not enough otherwise bowl-eligible teams to fill available spots, Jacksonville State and James Madison became conditionally bowl eligible due to their winning records, despite their transitions from FCS.
^Sam Houston was bowl ineligible due to their transition from FCS to FBS, and the Bearkats would have been bowl ineligible regardless, as they finished with a 3–9 record.
^Arizona State self-imposed a bowl ban due to recruiting violations that occurred in 2020.[28] The Sun Devils would have been bowl ineligible regardless, as they finished with a 3–9 record.
^Despite finishing at 6–6, Army only had five wins at the time bowl matchups were determined; additionally, two of their wins were against FCS teams.