After just one year of the 12-team College Football Playoff format, there looks to be changes on the horizon.
Yahoo! Sports’ Ross Dellenger had a groundbreaking report on Thursday afternoon that college football executives “unanimously adopted a move to ‘straight seeding’ for this year’s playoff.”
Ultimately, that means that “teams will be seeded directly on the rankings, 1 thru 12, eliminating the concept that designated the top 4 seeds for conference champs,” according to Dellenger’s report.
An hour after Dellenger’s report went live on Thursday afternoon, the College Football Playoff sent out a press release confirming the news.
“The College Football Playoff (CFP) Management Committee, comprised of the 10 FBS conference commissioners and the Director of Athletics at the University of Notre Dame, today voted unanimously to modify the seeding and bye policies of the 12-team Playoff for the 2025-26 season,” the press release states.
“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 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.”
CFP’s official announcement pic.twitter.com/L5Fs6xf3G9
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) May 22, 2025
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ESPN posted a graphic of what the 2024 CFB Playoffs would have looked like in straight seeding, and it’s evident that Tennessee would have had a much different path in its first playoff appearance.
If the straight seeding format had been used, Tennessee would have claimed the No. 7 seed in the playoffs (rather than the No. 9 seed). The Vols would have hosted 10-seed SMU in the first round. That’s no easy task, and a result in Tennessee’s favor wouldn’t be guaranteed, but it is drastically different than having to play eventual National Champion Ohio State in their own house in the first round. The winner of the Tennessee-SMU game would have hypothetically played 2-seed Georgia in the second round with a spot in the semi-finals on the line.
Comparing the real 2024 CFP bracket with one under the new seeding format 👀 pic.twitter.com/AkW9g8ZGey
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) May 22, 2025
Reaction to the news has been mixed on social media in the early stages of the report breaking. Some users online are in favor of the move, talking about the potential for more balance in the early round games after three of the four first-round games ended with a 14-point winning margin at minimum. Others, though, are against the idea because of the desire for conference championships to matter in getting the byes.
Speculation will continue all year until we see the new format of the 12-team College Football Playoffs in action next fall.
