College Football Playoff executive director Rich Clark said in a teleconference Wednesday that the Playoff selection committee absolutely will not try to manipulate the inaugural 12-team bracket just to avoid rematches from the 2024 season.

“It is going to happen,” said Clark.

In the 4-team Playoff format that existed from 2014 through last season, the possibility of rematches were remote because, well, there was only 4 teams heading to the Playoff. But now that the format has changed to 12 teams, the prospect of having a Playoff rematch from a regular-season game definitely exists.

During the teleconference, Clark discussed the seeding and ranking process that the Playoff committee would follow. The highly anticipated first Playoff rankings of the 2024 season will be announced next Tuesday night. Clark followed up the teleconference with a Q&A with media members, as the college football world seeks to find out more about the process that will lead to the first ever 12-team Playoff later this fall.

But back to those possible rematches. As if the prospect of the first 12-team Playoff wasn’t exciting enough for college football fans, it’s now out in the open that there very well could be some rematches, which sends the intrigue factor into the stratosphere.

Those first Playoff rankings are just 6 days away, and so Week 10 will be the final proving ground for Playoff contenders to show their worth to the CFP committee.