College Football Playoff to change how teams are seeded in 2025

A big change is coming to the College Football Playoff and how teams are seeded in the postseason, starting in 2025.

Starting this season, the College Football Playoff will seed teams based on the Top 25 rankings alone. / Brett Davis | Imagn Images

A big change is coming to the College Football Playoff, as executives voted to adopt a straight seeding model starting in the 2025 football season.

The deal was passed with a unanimous vote and will eliminate the difference between rankings and seedings, and award the top four teams with a first round bye.

Support for the so-called “straight seeding” model has been gaining momentum over the course of the offseason and was endorsed by leaders in the SEC and Big Ten when those two conferences held private talks, and more recently by ACC commissioner Jim Phillips.

Prior to the change, the four highest-ranked conference champions earned the top four seeds and a first-round bye, but consensus was building to change the system.

That change revolves around simply using the selection committee’s rankings for the seeding and avoiding any confusing discrepancies between rankings and seedings going forward.

For example, this past season saw No. 9 ranked Boise State earn the No. 3 seed as Mountain West champion and for No. 12 ranked Arizona State to play as the No. 4 seed as Big 12 champion.

No. 3 ranked Texas and No. 4 ranked Penn State were runners-up in the SEC and Big Ten, respectively, so could not be seeded higher than 5 and 6 because of the top four places being reserved for conference champion teams.

Going forward, the five highest-ranked conference champions will be guaranteed a place in the 12-team College Football Playoff, according to the deal.

There is also a financial aspect to the agreement, as teams will earn $4 million by making it to the quarterfinal, in addition to $4 million for making the playoff, per reports.

“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,” College Football Playoff executive director Rich Clark 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.”

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