The National Football League (NFL) playoffs is the annual single-elimination tournament held to determine the league champion. The four-round tournament is held after the league's regular season. Since the 2020 season, seven teams from each of the league's two conferences qualify for the playoffs based on regular season winning percentage, with a tie-breaking procedure if required. The top team in each conference receives a first-round bye, automatically advancing to the next round. The tournament culminates in the Super Bowl, the league's championship game, competed between teams from each conference.
Mid-major conferences in American college sports at the NCAA Division I level are athletic conferences that are not among the Power conferences. The grouping is used particularly in men's college basketball to describe conferences outside of the Big Ten, Big 12, Big East, SEC, Pac-12, and ACC, collectively referred to as the Power Six or "high majors".
The SEC Championship Game is an annual American football game that has determined the Southeastern Conference's season champion since 1992. For its first 32 seasons, the championship game pitted the East Division regular season champion against the West Division regular season champion. With the SEC eliminating football divisions after the 2023 season, the game now features the top two teams in the conference standings. The game is regularly played on the first Saturday of December, and has been held in Atlanta since 1994, first at the Georgia Dome, and at Mercedes-Benz Stadium since 2017.
The teams that participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision earn the right to compete in a series of post-season games called bowl games. As of 2024, there are 42 bowl games, and all are contractually obligated to offer bids to specific conferences, a situation known as a "tie-in". The "top" six bowl games in the nation select their teams as part of the College Football Playoff (CFP), which was put into place for a minimum of 12 years, beginning with the 2014 season. Prior to 2014, the top five games in the country were chosen under the system known as the Bowl Championship Series. The bowls outside of the CFP have individual contracts with the conferences to offer preferential bids to teams from those conferences. As long as teams are bowl eligible, they may be selected by these bowls to meet these contracts.
A wild card is a tournament or playoff berth awarded to a team or individual that does not qualify through an automatic bid. In some events, wildcards are chosen freely by the organizers. Other events have fixed rules. Some North American professional sports leagues compare the records of teams which did not qualify directly by winning a division or conference.
The Conference USA Football Championship Game is an annual American football game that has determined the season champion of Conference USA (CUSA) since 2005.
The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game that has been played annually in the Miami metropolitan area since January 1, 1935. Along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, it is one of the oldest bowl games in the country behind only the Rose Bowl, which was first played in 1902 and has been played annually since 1916.
The Pac-12 Football Championship Game was an annual college football game held by the Pac-12 Conference to determine the season's conference champion. The game from the 2011–2021 seasons had the champion of the North Division against the champion of the South Division. The inaugural game was held during the 2011 season. In 2022 and 2023, the two teams with the highest conference winning percentage faced off in the championship game.
The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual postseason knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the highest level of college football competition in the United States. It culminates in the College Football Playoff National Championship game. The inaugural tournament was held at the end of the 2014 NCAA Division I FBS football season under a four-team format. The CFP Board of Managers voted in 2023 to expand the playoff to twelve teams beginning in 2024, an arrangement that will last at least through the end of the 2025 season. After 2025, the current contract between all major players expires and a new contract will be drawn up, with indications that additional expansion to a 14-team playoff or larger may take place at that time.
The 2015–16 NCAA football bowl games were a series of college football bowl games. They completed the 2015 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The games began on December 19, 2015, and, aside from the all-star games, ended with the 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship which was played on January 11, 2016.
The American Athletic Conference Football Championship Game is a college football game currently held by the American Athletic Conference each year to determine the conference's season champion. The inaugural game was held on December 5, 2015, at 12:00 pm ET.
The 2016–17 NCAA football bowl games were a series of college football bowl games which completed the 2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The games began on December 17, 2016, and aside from the all-star games ended with the 2017 College Football Playoff National Championship which was played on January 9, 2017.
The 2016 Mountain West Conference Championship Game was played on Saturday, December 3, 2016 at War Memorial Stadium in Laramie, Wyoming, and determined the 2016 football champion of the Mountain West Conference (MW). The game featured the MW West Division champion San Diego State Aztecs visiting the Mountain Division co-champion Wyoming Cowboys, with the Aztecs winning 27–24. It was broadcast nationally by ESPN for the second consecutive year.
The 2016 American Athletic Conference Football Championship Game, held on Saturday, December 3, 2016, was the second football championship game for that conference. Houston defeated Temple, 24–13, in last year's game.
The 2018 Mountain West Conference Championship Game was played on Saturday, December 1, 2018, at Albertsons Stadium in Boise, Idaho, to determine the 2018 football champion of the Mountain West Conference (MW). For the second consecutive year, the game featured the West Division champion Fresno State Bulldogs visiting the Mountain Division champion Boise State Broncos. The game was broadcast nationally by ESPN for the fourth consecutive year.
The 2017 Mountain West Conference Championship Game was played on Saturday, December 2, 2017 at Albertsons Stadium in Boise, Idaho, to determine the 2017 football champion of the Mountain West Conference (MW). The game featured the MW West Division champion Fresno State Bulldogs visiting the Mountain Division champion Boise State Broncos. It was broadcast nationally by ESPN for the third consecutive year.
The New Year's Six, sometimes abbreviated as NY6, are the following NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) bowl games: the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Peach Bowl, and Fiesta Bowl. These games are played annually on or around New Year's Day and represent six of the ten oldest bowl games played at the FBS level.
The Colley Matrix is a computer-generated sports rating system designed by Dr. Wesley Colley. It is one of more than 40 polls, rankings, and formulas recognized by the NCAA in its list of national champion selectors in college football.
The 2023 Mountain West Conference Football Championship Game was a college football game which was played on December 2, 2023, at Allegiant Stadium in the Las Vegas-area community of Paradise, Nevada. It was the 11th edition of the Mountain West Conference Football Championship Game and determined the champion of the Mountain West Conference (MW) for the 2023 season. The game began at 12:00 p.m. PST and was aired on Fox. The game featured the Boise State Broncos and the UNLV Rebels.
The 2023–24 NCAA football bowl games were a series of college football bowl games in the United States, primarily played to complete the 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Team-competitive bowl games in FBS began on December 16 and concluded with the 2024 College Football Playoff National Championship on January 8, 2024, which was won by the Michigan Wolverines. The all-star portion began on January 13 and concluded on February 24.
