The College Football Playoff will not consider the annual Army-Navy Game in its selection process, according to a report by Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports.
The Army Black Knights are set to join the Navy Midshipmen in the American Athletic Conference this fall, but their annual neutral-site matchup will remain on the second Saturday in December as a non-conference matchup.
The College Football Playoff, however, will make its selections for the new 12-team field six days prior to the Army-Navy Game. That is the day after conference championship games are played and is referred to as Selection Sunday.
From the Yahoo Sports report:
On Wednesday, Day 2 of its annual spring meetings, the CFP Management Committee decided to treat the game as a sort-of exhibition contest. If either Army or Navy wins the American Athletic Conference championship and is the highest-ranked Group of Five champion, that team will advance to the playoff, in all likelihood as the No. 12 seed, despite having another game to play six days later.
Yahoo Sports reported earlier this year that leaders from Army and Navy wanted the College Football Playoff to wait until after the Army-Navy Game to select the No. 12 seed in the playoff, which would cause other issues.
The decision would have triggered a fascinating issue. Waiting a week to name a No. 12 seed would have meant that the No. 5 seed would be tasked with preparing for two opponents and would only learn of its opponent a week before kickoff.
While Army and Navy have not been close to making the College Football Playoff in the four-team format, there is a greater possibility of being selected in the new 12-team format that begins in 2024.
While chances of Army or Navy’s impact on a four-team playoff were slim, the 12-team format gives either program more of an opportunity as it grants automatic berths to the five highest-ranked Group of Five champions in an FBS division now with four power leagues. Stakeholders acknowledge that the chances of Army-Navy impacting the expanded playoff remain distant, but the possibility still exists.
In fact, if the CFP’s 12-team format were used in 2015, Navy would have potentially qualified as the highest-ranked Group of Five team when reflecting realignment shifts that have since happened.
The College Football Playoff Schedule for the 2024 season is slated to begin on Friday, Dec. 20 with one First-Round game, followed by three more First-Round games on Saturday, Dec. 21.