College Football Playoff ranking schedule, release dates & more to know about the 2021 CFP selection

Zac Al-Khateeb

College Football Playoff ranking schedule, release dates & more to know about the 2021 CFP selection image

Expansion may have been tabled amid conference realignment talks, but the College Football Playoff regardless is stronger than ever, heading into its eighth season as the premier event in college football.

The Playoff in 2021 returns to some semblance of normalcy, a year after the COVID-19 pandemic not only forced the relocation of a semifinal game from its traditional, historic venue, but also necessitating half-empty stadiums for the semifinals and championship game. With that in mind, perhaps fans won't mind the four-team venue for another season or so.

Or maybe not.

MORE: How proposed 12-team College Football Playoff would work

Regardless of the final format of the Playoff, there are still important locations and dates to know, not only with the bowls but also the weekly top 25 team unveilings. Say what you want about the current format of the Playoff, but it sure knows how to build momentum — and excitement — toward the end of the season.

Sporting News has all the important dates and locations to know for 2021:

When are the CFP rankings released?

The first set of College Football Playoff rankings will be on Tuesday, Nov. 2. The rankings schedule for 2021 is as follows:

Date Time (ET)
Tuesday, Nov. 2 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 9 9 p.m.*
Tuesday, Nov. 16 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 23 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 30 7 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 5 Noon
*The second set of Playoff rankings will air between games at the Champions Classic.

When is the College Football Playoff selection show?

Selection day for the College Football Playoff is Sunday, Dec. 5, the day after conference championship weekend concludes. Unlike the five previous rankings unveilings, the show will take four hours. The top 25 will be unveiled starting with 25 and moving toward No. 1, though the format for unveiling the final Playoff pairings remains to be seen.

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Where are the CFP semifinals games in 2021?

The eighth year of the Playoff will see semifinals hosted at the Orange Bowl in Miami Gardens, Fla., and Cotton Bowl in Arlington, Texas. It will be the third and fourth time those venues (Hard Rock Stadium and AT&T Stadium) have hosted semifinal games, respectively. (The latter hosted the Rose Bowl Game in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions in California. Both games will take place on Dec. 31).

As for what teams play where, that will be decided by the No. 1 overall seed in the Playoff. It will choose to host the 4 seed in either the Orange Bowl or Cotton Bowl, leaving the Nos. 2 and 3 seeds to play in the other.

The other four bowls that make up the New Year's Day 6 are the Peach, Rose, Sugar and Fiesta bowls.

College Football Playoff semifinals

Bowl Stadium Date
Orange Bowl Hard Rock Stadium (Miami Gardens, Fla.) Dec. 31, 2021
Cotton Bowl AT&T Stadium (Arlington, Texas) Dec. 31, 2021

New Year's Day 6 bowls

Bowl Stadium Date
Peach Bowl Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta) Dec. 30, 2021
Rose Bowl Rose Bowl (Pasadena, Calif.) Jan. 1, 2022
Sugar Bowl Caesars Superdome (New Orleans) Jan. 1, 2022
Fiesta Bowl State Farm Stadium (Glendale, Ariz.) Jan. 1, 2022

Where is the CFP championship game in 2021?

  • Location: Lucas Oil Stadium (Indianapolis)
  • Time: 8 p.m. ET

This year's College Football Championship game is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 10, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. It will be the first time the championship is held at that venue.

MORE: An undefeated Cincinnati still won't be enough for College Football Playoff selection committee

Lowest-ranked team in initial rankings to make Playoff

A trend has emerged in recent years in which teams hoping to make the Playoff must reach a certain threshold at the time CFP rankings are released for the first time: In each of the last five seasons, the lowest-ranked team in the first set of rankings has been among the top nine teams. Moreover, four of those five seasons saw said team ranked at least in the top seven.

That's a far cry from the first two seasons, in which Ohio State and Oklahoma made the 2014 and 2015 Playoffs with initial rankings of 16 and 15, respectively:

Season Team Initial CFP rank
2014 Ohio State 16
2015 Oklahoma 15
2016 Ohio State 6
2017 Oklahoma 5
2018 Oklahoma 7
2019 Oklahoma 9
2020 Ohio State 4

Who is on the CFP committee?

The CFP committee features 14 members in 2021. Iowa athletic director Gary Barta is the chairman. The committee includes five new members this year, including Mitch Barnhart, Boo Corrigan, Chris Del Conte, Will Shields and Joe Taylor.

Below is the full list of members for 2021, and their titles:

Member Title
Gary Barta (Chairman) Iowa athletic director
Mitch Barnhart Kentucky athletic director
Tom Burman Wyoming athletic director
Paola Boivin Arizona State professor
Rick George Colorado athletic director
Charlie Cobb Georgia State athletic director
Boo Corrigan N.C. State athletic director
Chris Del Conte Texas athletic director
Will Shields Former Nebraska All-American
Joe Taylor Virginia Union athletic director
Todd Stansbury Georgia Tech athletic director
Rod West Entergy Corporation president
John Urschel Former Penn State All-American
Tyrone Willingham Former Stanford, Notre Dame, Washington coach

Zac Al-Khateeb

Zac Al-Khateeb Photo

Zac Al-Khateeb has been part of The Sporting News team since 2015 after earning his Bachelor's (2013) and Master's (2014) degrees in journalism at the University of Alabama. Prior to joining TSN, he covered high school sports and general news in Alabama. A college sports specialist, Zac has been a voter for the Biletnikoff Award and Heisman Trophy since 2020.