Now a decade into its existence, the College Football Playoff is expanding to 12 teams for the first time at the conclusion of the 2024 season.
The expansion comes following the most controversial field of the four-team era in which an undefeated, ACC champion Florida State was left out of the field. Now, the new system essentially guarantees that will never happen again with five spots reserved for conference champions and seven more going to the highest-ranked at-large teams.
Who gets those spots (and where they’re seeded) ultimately comes down to the College Football Playoff committee, a 13-member body. At the head of that body is the chair, and in 2024, Michigan athletics director Warde Manuel is serving in that position.
Manuel brings both playing and administrative experience to the table. A defensive tackle for the Wolverines from 1986-89, he was named athletics director at Michigan in 2016 after holding the same title at Connecticut and Buffalo.
Now entering his third season as a member of the committee after watching his school capture the trophy last year, Manuel was tabbed committee chair in February and will lead the group tasked with determining the teams that have a chance to compete for a national championship.
