College Football Playoff Changes Seeding Model

Changes are coming to the seeding model used for the 12-team College Football Playoff. View the new rules that will be implemented for the 2025-2026 College Football Playoff.

New Seeding Model For College Football Playoff

The 12-team College Football Playoff will move to a straight seeding model this fall, rewarding t… – via @ESPN App https://t.co/TMzDuRBneD

— Heather Dinich (@CFBHeather) May 22, 2025

The College Football Playoff is moving to a straight seeding model.

Per ESPN’s Heather Dinich, the CFP will award the committee’s top four teams with the top four seeds. These teams will then receive a first-round bye.

This past season, the top four seeds went to the four highest-ranked conference champions.

Now, the top four teams in the committee’s poll will be seeded one through four. Notre Dame, an independent, is also eligible to receive a first-round bye under the new rules.

The five highest-ranked conference champions will still be guaranteed a spot in the CFP.

“After evaluating the first year of the 12-team Playoff, the CFP management committee felt it was in the best interest of the game to make this adjustment,” Rich Clark, executive director of the College Football Playoff, said in a statement. “This change will continue to allow guaranteed access to the Playoff by rewarding teams for winning their conference championship, but it will also allow us to construct a postseason bracket that recognizes the best performance on the field during the entire regular season.”

$8 million will still be awarded to the four highest-ranked conference champions regardless of seeding.

How Will The Seeding Look?

THE BRACKET IS SET ✍️

Who are you taking to win the #CFBPlayoff? pic.twitter.com/9BDWwesEVL

— ESPN (@espn) December 8, 2024

To explain the new seeding, let’s use last year’s bracket and apply the new rules.

The 12 teams in the 2024-2025 College Football Playoff:

1. Oregon
2. Georgia
3. Boise State
4. Arizona State
5. Texas
6. Penn State
7. Notre Dame
8. Ohio State
9. Tennessee
10. Indiana
11. SMU
12. Clemson

Under the old rules, Oregon (Big 10), Georgia (SEC), Boise State (MWC), and Arizona State (Big 12) were the four highest-ranked conference champions and earned first-round byes.

Using the new seeding rules, this is what the CFP would have looked like:

1. Oregon
2. Georgia
3. Texas
4. Penn State
5. Notre Dame
6. Ohio State
7. Tennessee
8. Indiana
9. Boise State
10. SMU
11. Arizona State
12. Clemson