College Football Playoff moving to new seeding model for 2025-26 postseason

More change is on the horizon in college football

The endzone goalpost holds a Rose Bowl logo prior to the College Football Playoff quarterfinal between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Oregon Ducks at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. | Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The College Football Playoff is moving to a straight-seeding model for the 2025 postseason, according to reports.

CFP executives voted Thursday to approve a new system that will seed playoff teams based on the selection committee's rankings and not by conference championships.

Under the current format, the top four seeds are reserved for the highest-ranked conference champions. Now, teams will be seeded No. 1-12 according to their ranking, with the top four seeds earning a bye into the quarterfinals.

The approval for a new playoff structure comes after college football fans watched last season's top four seeds — Oregon, Georgia, Boise State and Arizona State — lose their opening quarterfinal games against opponents coming off wins in the previous week. Had straight-seeding been applied to the 2024-25 postseason, the Broncos would've been the No. 9 seed based on their CFP ranking, while the Sun Devils would've checked in as the No. 11 seed, instead of the 4-seed they wound up with under the old format.

Eliminating auto-byes for conference champions was openly supported by the Big Ten and SEC, according to reports, after Penn State, Ohio State, Tennessee and Indiana were all kept out of the top-four discussion last season.

Officials from the Big Ten and SEC are also pushing for a 16-team playoff in 2026 that would feature multiple automatic qualifiers per conference. Dubbed the “4-4-2-2-1” model, the proposal would grant the SEC and Big Ten four automatic qualifiers each, as well as two each to the Big 12 and ACC. One bid would go to the highest-ranked Group of Six conference champion, leaving room for three at-large selections.

While it's apparent more change is on the horizon, nothing for the 2026 playoff has been finalized. The Big Ten and SEC's proposed model has received some pushback from the other power conferences, as the ACC and Big 12 look for alternate models that wouldn't disadvantage their schools.