College Football Playoff Adopts Straight Seeding Eliminating Conference Champion Byes

Beginning with the 2025 season, the College Football Playoff (CFP) will adopt a straight-seeding model that ranks all 12 teams based purely on final playoff rankings, eliminating automatic byes for the top four conference champions. The top four ranked teams overall, regardless of conference affiliation, will now receive first-round byes, addressing concerns from the previous season where lower-ranked conference champions like Boise State and Arizona State received byes that led to quarterfinal mismatches. While the five highest-ranked conference champions are still guaranteed playoff spots, those outside the top 12 can be displaced by higher-ranked at-large teams. This change, unanimously approved by the CFP Management Committee composed of 10 FBS conference commissioners and Notre Dame's athletic director, aims to better reward teams for their performance throughout the regular season and create a more competitive postseason bracket. Critics note this adjustment increases the importance of accurate seeding by the committee and pressure to perhaps reseed after the first round. The move is also seen as a step toward potentially expanding the playoff field to 14 or 16 teams in the future.