MAC has piece of playoff, premier bowl opportunity pie

9/25/2014

Beginning with the 2014-15 season, college football will enter a new four-team playoff era. Two College Football Playoff Semifinals will be played in bowl games this year (Sugar Bowl; Rose Bowl) and the College Football Playoff National Championship will be played in Arlington, Texas on Jan. 12.

The two Semifinals and four other premier bowl games (Orange Bowl; Cotton Bowl; Peach Bowl; Fiesta Bowl) will be played on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. The Semifinal games will rotate among these six different bowls. All MAC programs will join every FBS team in college football with equal access to the playoff based upon its performance. No team will qualify automatically.

The College Football Playoff Selection Committee will choose four teams for the playoffs based on body of work, strength of schedule, head-to-head results, comparison of results against common opponents, championships won and other factors. The highest ranked program by the Selection Committee from either the MAC, American Athletic, Conference USA, Mountain West or Sun Belt Conferences will play annually in one of the premier bowl games.

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Publisher

Mike Smith saw his first MAC football action as a nine-year-old while hanging onto the flagpole of a nearby baseball stadium. The view got better after he discovered he could get in free at halftime.
Decades later, he can usually be found either on press row or along the sidelines.
Mike has won awards for both his stories and pictures during his time in journalism.
Combining his own skills with those of other writers and photographers, along with conference and school resources, he constantly works to provide an enjoyable MAC product.