College Football Playoff Selection Show Schedule: When Will Bracket Be Announced?

When will the College Football Playoff bracket be released?
Both Miami and Notre Dame are hoping they are selected into the College Football Playoff this weekend.
Both Miami and Notre Dame are hoping they are selected into the College Football Playoff this weekend. / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

The penultimate edition of the 2025 College Football Playoff rankings was released on Tuesday following the final week of the regular season. Now, only conference championship weekend lies before the announcement of the 12-team College Football Playoff bracket during the selection show.

This is the second year of the 12-team CFP format, and a number of teams are still vying for a spot, home game and/or first-round bye. Regardless of what each team does or has done, their fates will lie in the hands of the CFP committee. For teams that don’t make the CFP, they will instead get to participate in a bowl game.

Here is when the selection show and subsequently the playoff announcement will take place.

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When will the College Football Playoff field be announced?

The 12-team College Football Playoff bracket will be announced on Sunday, Dec. 7. This takes place one day after conference championship games, and the rankings will be released during the selection show, which airs from 12–3 p.m. ET.

The selection show will announce the 12-team bracket, CFP’s final rankings, the four teams that get first-round byes and the four teams that host first-round playoff games.

As of Tuesday’s rankings, Ohio State, Indiana, Georgia and Texas Tech are slated to get first-round byes while Ole Miss, Oregon, Texas A&M and Oklahoma are in position to host home games. BYU and Miami are currently slated to be the first teams out of the playoff, but this is subject to change when the final rankings and bracket are released after the conference championships are decided.

When will bowl game matchups be announced?

Along with the final CFP rankings, this year’s bowl game matchups will also be announced on Sunday, Dec. 7. Bowl games will begin less than a week after, with the first two bowl games taking place on Dec. 13. Non-CFP bowl games will run from Dec. 13 to Jan. 2.

For the full bowl game schedule, click here.

How to watch the CFP Selection Show

The selection show will air on ESPN from 12 to 3 p.m. ET on Sunday. The show can also be streamed via the ESPN app. Rece Davis, Booger McFarland, Joey Galloway and Dusty Dvoracek are slated to host the announcement.


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Eva Geitheim
EVA GEITHEIM

Eva Geitheim is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Prior to joining SI in December 2024, she wrote for Newsweek, Gymnastics Now and Dodgers Nation. A Bay Area native, she has a bachelor's in communications from UCLA. When not writing, she can be found baking or re-watching Gilmore Girls.