CFP Announces New Straight Seeding Bracket Format Starting with 2025 Season

The College Football Playoff experiment of giving the top four seeds to the four highest-ranked conference champions has come to an end after one season.

"The new policy will guarantee the five highest-ranked conference champions a place in the Playoff, but will no longer include a bye for the four highest-ranked champions," the CFP said in a statement.

"The 12-team bracket will now be seeded directly based on the final ranking of the CFP Selection Committee, with the four highest-ranked teams receiving a first-round bye. If one or more of the five highest-ranked conference champions are ranked outside the top 12, that team or teams would move up to the 12th seed, 11th seed, etc., based on the number of conference champions outside the top 12."

Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger first reported the changes had been agreed upon.

Dellenger noted the decision is expected to include a financial compromise that will allow the four highest-ranked conference champions to receive an $8 million payout regardless of whether they advance to the quarterfinals.

Under the current revenue model, according to Dellenger, the payout is divided into two payments of $4 million with one for making the playoff and a second one for reaching the quarterfinals.

The compromise is expected to keep that $8 million payout for 2025, but it will likely change in 2026 when the "new revenue-distribution model that was established last spring where conferences earn a base amount in a system without performance payments."

When the College Football Playoff adopted the 12-team format, one of the ways to reward winning a conference title was to give the top four conference champs an automatic bye into the quarterfinals.

If it seemed like a good idea on paper, it turned out to be awkward in execution. The four highest-ranked conference champions in 2024 were Oregon (Big Ten), Georgia (SEC), Boise State (Mountain West) and Arizona State (Big 12).

"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," CFP executive director Rich Clark said. "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."

In the final College Football Playoff rankings released on Dec. 8, Oregon (No. 1) and Georgia (No. 2) were the only teams from that group ranked in the top four. Texas and Penn State were the third and fourth seeds, respectively.

Because of the rules, Texas and Penn State got bumped down to the fifth and sixth seeds. Boise State was ranked ninth and Arizona State was 12th in the full rankings.

If the straight-seeding system had been in place last season, Oregon, Georgia, Texas and Penn State would have received the automatic bye into the quarterfinals.

The first-round matchups would have been No. 5 Notre Dame vs. No. 12 Clemson; No. 6 Ohio State vs. No. 11 Arizona State; No. 7 Tennessee vs. No. 10 SMU; No. 8 Indiana vs. No. 9 Boise State.

It's unclear how long the 12-team format will last. Dellenger reported on May 8 there is "growing support" from within the Big Ten and SEC to expand to either 14 or 16 teams.

The 2026 season marks the first year of the College Football Playoff's new television deal with ESPN that was agreed to in March 2024. That agreement included a structure to account for a potential 14-team playoff format.