Georgia can pull off something that hasn’t been done in more than eight decades.
Kirby Smart‘s Bulldogs are trying to become the first team since Minnesota in 1934-36 to win three consecutive national championships. Georgia rolled upstart TCU 65-7 in the 2023 College Football Playoff title game, capping a 14-0 season and its second straight national title at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
However, the Bulldogs won’t be the only club eyeing a date in Houston on the first Monday in January. The entire college football world will be trying to knock off Georgia and plant their flag for the 2023 season.
Here’s a look at the road to the College Football Playoff National Championship.
CFP Bracket 2023-2024
The College Football Playoff bracket will be released closer to the four-team tournament’s announcement in December.
This will be the final year of the four teams in the tournament. The CFP will become a 12-team starting in 2024-25.
2024 CFP Semifinal Games
Rose Bowl
Jan. 1, 2024, 5 p.m. ET (Pasadena, Calif.)
Arguably the most breathtaking setting in all sports — and almost certainly the most famous venue in collegiate athletics — the Rose Bowl will host the first semifinal in the final year of the four-team CFP era.
This will be the fourth time the Rose Bowl will serve as a CFP semifinal site, though Pasadena hasn’t hosted a semifinal since 2018 — the 2021 Rose Bowl was contested at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The 2018 Rose Bowl was a legendary 54-48 Georgia win in double overtime over Oklahoma.
The Rose Bowl, when it can, likes to keep tradition and pit the Big Ten champion against the Pac-12 champ. However, the Pac-12 will lose flagship schools USC and UCLA for the 2024-25 academic year, and there could be big changes afoot to the conference.
- See who could be paving the trail to the Rose Bowl in the latest Heisman Trophy odds.
Between that, and the 12-team playoff coming in 2024, the final Big Ten-Pac-12 Rose Bowl may have already been played.
Sugar Bowl
Jan. 1, 2024, 8:45 p.m. ET (New Orleans)
The Sugar Bowl always follows the Rose Bowl in the late TV window on New Year’s night. Thus, the second national semifinal will be at Caesars Superdome.
This will also be the fourth time the Sugar Bowl will host the CFP semis. Ohio State defeated Clemson 49-28 to reach the championship game before falling to Alabama in the 2020-21 football season, and they’re currently sitting pretty in our College Football Power Rankings.
However, that game was only attended by 3,000 fans due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which means this will be the first fully-attended CFP semifinal in New Orleans since 2018. The Sugar Bowl’s attendance has waned over the past five years but should surpass 70,000 fans again.
CFP National Championship Site
NRG Stadium
Jan. 8, 2024, TBA (Houston)
Houston is the largest city in perhaps the richest football state in the country. It’s hosted countless marquee events, including the Super Bowl, Final Four, World Series, and NBA Finals.
Yet, somehow, Houston has never hosted a college football national championship game.
That fact will change in 2024. NRG Stadium, the home of the Houston Texans and the annual Texas Bowl, will welcome 70,000-plus fans to town for the championship game between the winners of the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl.
Will Georgia pull off a three-peat, or will Nick Saban and Alabama play spoiler? Can Texas rise and rescale the mountain, or could Michigan be the big-name program to return to glory? All of that remains to be seen.
To see where your favorite team stands and more, head over to our CFB National Championship Odds for the best futures bets ahead of the College Football Playoff season.
Historical CFP Winners
- 2022: Georgia
- 2021: Georgia
- 2020: Alabama
- 2019: LSU
- 2018: Clemson
- 2017: Alabama
- 2016: Clemson
- 2015: Alabama
- 2014: Ohio State
