College football has expanded its playoffs from four teams to 12. And the expanded schedule creates more opportunities for conflict with NFL games.
This year, there’s an issue right out of the gates. At 12:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, December 21 and at 4:00 p.m. ET that same day, a pair of first-round college playoff games will be televised by TNT. A third game starts at 8:00 p.m. ET on ABC and ESPN.
That same day, Texans at Chiefs kicks off at 1:00 p.m. ET on NBC, followed by Steelers-Ravens at 4:30 p.m. ET on Fox.
That’s the only conflict. The quarterfinals happen on Tuesday, December 31 and Wednesday, January 1.
The semifinals happen on Thursday, January 9 and Friday, January 10, with the championship on Monday, January 20.
As it stands, the quarterfinals happen in the days preceding the NFL’s Week 18, the semifinals happen on the two days before the start of the NFL’s three-day wild-card round, and the championship happens the day after the conclusion of the NFL’s divisional round.