Jan 19, 2025; Atlanta, GA, USA; The College Football Playoff National Championship trophy at a press conference at The Westin Peachtree Plaza, Savannah Ballroom. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

CFP format still could be subject to ‘tweaks’ in 2025

Could more changes be on the way to the College Football Playoff, which hasn’t yet finished its first year with a 12-team field?

There were no major decisions made when the FBS conference commissioners and university presidents convened in Atlanta on Sunday, one day before the national championship game between No. 7 seed Notre Dame and No. 8 seed Ohio State.

But CFP executive director Rich Clark told reporters that “it’s possible” for tweaks to be made to the playoff format before next season, though such changes would need to happen “very soon.”

“I would say it’s possible, but I don’t know if it’s going to happen or not,” Clark said. “There’s probably some things that could happen in short order that might be tweaks to the 2025 season, but we haven’t determined that yet.”

Changes previously needed unanimous approval, but when a new contract kicks in in 2026, that will no longer be the case and the governance structure will favor the two top football leagues, the SEC and the Big Ten.

This year, the field expanded from four to 12, the five highest-ranked conference champions received automatic bids and the four highest-ranked champs were given seeds Nos. 1-4 and first-round byes. The latter piece drew criticism after No. 3 seed Boise State and No. 4 seed Arizona State, representing the Mountain West and Big 12, went one-and-done.

Potential changes in the future may include updating the seeding process or expanding the field yet again.

Clark told reporters that the decision-makers will consider “everything across the board” going forward.

“We’re going to tee them up so that they could really have a thorough look at the playoff looking back after this championship game is done … and then look back and figure out what is it that we need,” he said.

–Field Level Media

Dec 31, 2023; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Chiefs place kicker Harrison Butker (7) kicks the opening kickoff against the Cincinnati Bengals during the game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Kickoff change, hip-drop tackle ban proposed to NFL owners

NFL owners will have some proposals for rules changes to mull over ahead of next week’s annual league meeting, including a radical change to kickoffs and whether to ban hip-drop tackles.

The competition committee on Wednesday unveiled its proposed rules changes for the 2024 season, including one that would adopt kickoff alignment used by the XFL in recent seasons.

For one year only, the panel is proposing the 10 players other than the kicker line up on the receiving team’s 40-yard line on kickoffs in order to minimize high-speed collisions. The kicker would still kick off from his own 35.

At least nine members of the receiving team would line up in a set-up zone between their own 35- and 30-yard line. Up to two returners would line up in the landing zone between the goal line and the 20.

Teams would have to alert officials of an onside kick, in which case the traditional formation is used.

The XFL used a similar formation in 2020 and 2023, but the newly merged XFL and USFL is using the NFL’s alignment in 2024.

The committee also is recommending the ban of the hip-drop tackles, a technique in which a player “unweights himself by swiveling and dropping his hips and/or lower body, landing on and trapping the runner’s legs at or below the knee.”

The committee is proposing a 15-yard penalty and automatic first down for the tackle, which has been blamed for numerous injuries.

Other proposals include adding two instances of plays that can be reviewed — whether a passer is out of bounds or down by contact before throwing and whether the game clock expired before a snap.

Also, a change to allow an emergency QB3 to be on the practice squad as opposed to previously being a part of the 53-man roster also is proposed.

Rules changes need approval from 24 of 32 owners for adoption. The league annual meetings are next week in Orlando, Fla.

–Field Level Media