Report: CFP Committee to Discuss Rule Changes for Seedings and Rankings in 2025

The College Football Playoff committee will reportedly discuss changes to the current seeding format in 2025.

Brett McMurphy of Action Network revealed that there will be "in-depth discussions" about not guaranteeing conference champions the top four CFP seeds, which include first-round byes, next season.

McMurphy noted that the top five conference champions would still earn playoff spots but rankings would determine the final seeds. The change would require unanimous approval by all stakeholders to be implemented ahead of the 2025 season, although conference commissioners are open to the concept.

Under the current format, the four highest-ranked conference champions were seeded Nos. 1 through 4 and all earned first-round byes. The other eight teams faced off in the opening round for a chance to compete against the Top Four teams.

This led to Boise State, the Mountain West champions, as well as Arizona State, the Big 12 champions, receiving a bye during the first round. The Broncos and Sun Devils finished No. 9 and No. 12 in the final 2024 CFP rankings, respectively.

Both schools would still receive playoff spots under the proposed format, but they wouldn't finish with a higher seed compared to most of the teams ranked above them. If the revised seeding format were utilized in 2024, Oregon, Georgia, Texas and Penn State should have earned first-round byes.

"We should be open to getting [the seeding] right regardless of what that means," one commissioner said, per McMurphy. "But protecting conference champions and securing a spot in the playoff is a must."

With an expanded CFP field coming as early as 2026, the playoff committee is looking to make changes to the layout of the first round in 2025.

For now, the quarterfinal round of the 2024-25 playoff will start with Boise State against Penn State on Tuesday. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. ET.