The expansion of the College Football Playoff from four to 12 teams starting in the 2024 season has given teams more room to break into the CFP.

There’s also a new way for teams to secure a spot on the field. That’s right: Automatic qualifiers are now part of the FBS and College Football Playoff.

Here’s a quick overview of how CFP automatic qualifiers work:

• There are five automatic qualifiers: The five highest-ranked conference champions by the CFP selection committee enter automatically.
• Four of five AQs are byes — Of these five automatic qualifiers, the four highest-ranked teams receive a bye to the quarterfinals and are seeded 1-4.

Here’s a more in-depth look at how QAs work:

Explaining automatic College Football Playoff qualifiers

Unlike college basketball’s NCAA Tournament, automatic bids will not be given to every conference champion for the CFP. For FBS, automatic spots will be awarded to the five highest-ranked conference champions, regardless of conference. These five AQs depend on how the CFP selection committee ranks the conference champions in the top 25.

The four highest-ranked teams in the final CFP top 25 will be ranked one through four, regardless of their ranking in the final College Football Playoff top 25. For example, the fourth highest ranked conference champion might be ranked “only” #1. 8 in the top 25, but as the fourth-highest conference champion, this team would get fourth place. Non-conference champions ranked in the top four will be seeded from fifth place onwards and will not be eligible for a bye.

Here’s a look at each FBS conference. Five of these conference champions will automatically qualify, based on their ranking in the committee’s top 25.

• ACC
• American
• Big ten
• Big 12
• USA Conference
• MAC
• Mountain West
• Solar belt
• SECOND

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Does automatic qualification result in a first round bye?

Not always.

The four highest-ranked conference champions will receive a first-round bye, while the fifth-highest-ranked conference champion will be seeded between five and 12. This seeding will depend on the ranking of the first 25 in the CFP. In other words, even if the fifth highest-ranked conference champion is seeded No. 18 in the final CFP top 25, that team will be the No. 12 seed as the final automatic qualifier.

Additionally, if the fifth highest-ranked conference champion gets a higher seed than their opponent, they will host their first-round matchup. All first-round matches will be played at the highest ranked campus sites: No. 5 vs. No. 12, No. 6 vs. No. 11, No. 7 vs. No. 10 and No. 8 vs. No. 9 .

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Who is not eligible for QA?

With a conference title required for an automatic bid, FBS independents are not eligible to automatically qualify.

These teams can still be seeded as high as No. 5, but only conference champions can receive seeds No. 1 through No. 4.