Answering the biggest questions about how the 12 Team College Football Playoff works

This year brings a whole new era of College Football as the College Football Playoff expands from four teams to twelve. The new format for the playoffs brings about a ton of changes as we'll now get playoff games hosted in home stadiums, conference champions getting better treatment, and a ton of scenarios for chaos. Here are the answers to the biggest questions about the College Football Playoff.

Who qualifies for the College Football Playoff?

There are two ways to qualify for the College Football Playoff, as an automatic qualifier or as an at large team. The automatic qualifiers are the five highest ranked conference champions meaning just because there's a Conference Championship in the "Power Four" that the team will make it. For example, teams in the Sun Belt or the American Athletic could have a magical year and if they're ranked higher than the ACC Champions, they'll be in. The final seven teams will be decided by the College Football Playoff committee while the top four teams in get a Bye to the Quarterfinal.

Where Will the Games be played?

The first four teams will get a bye in the first round while teams seed 5th through 8th will get to host home games in the opening round. The quarterfinal games will be neutral site hosted at the Fiesta Bowl, the Rose Bowl, the Peach Bowl, and the Sugar Bowl. The Semifinals will be played at the Orange Bowl and the Cotton Bowl. The National Championship game will return to Atlanta Georgia.

When will the games be played?

The first round of the playoffs will have one game played on Friday, December 20th and three games played on Saturday, December 20th. The Quarterfinals will have one game played on New Year's Eve and three games played on New Year's Day. The Semifinals will be played on Thursday, January 9th and Friday, January 10th while the National Championship will occur ten days later on Monday, January 20th.

Which teams will face off?

The seeding for the first round of the playoff is the 12th seed vs the 5th, 11th vs the 6th, 10th vs 7th, and 9th vs the 8th. The quarterfinals will have the top seed facing the winner of the 9 vs 8, the 2nd seed will face the winner of 10 vs 7, the 3rd seed will face the winner of 11 vs 6, and the 4th seed will face the winner if 12 vs 5. In the Semifinals the winner of the 1st seeds matchup would face the winner of the 4th seeds game while the winner of the 2nd and third seeds would face off.