The College Football Playoff will now be seeded solely by the selection committee’s rankings, not by conference championships, Yahoo! Sports’ Ross Dellenger reported on Thursday. CFP executives voted unanimously to make this postseason change on Thursday.
The biggest difference will be seen in the top four seeds. Previously, those top four seeds were determined by the highest-ranked conference champions, meaning some teams with better records were seeded lower if another team in their conference were better. Starting during the 2025-26 postseason, the teams will be ranked 1-12 regardless of conference championships. Those top four teams will earn a bye in the first round.
This new seeding format includes the transition of the top four teams still receiving $8 million that the top four teams previously all earned as the highest-ranked conference champions, according to Dellenger. Now the four top teams decided by the committee will continue to earn that pay.
The CFP could look even more different in 2026 as the Big Ten and SEC have proposed a new 16-team playoff format called the “4-4-2-2-1” model. With this format, the Big Ten and SEC would each receive four automatic bids, the Big 12 and ACC would receive two each and the last bid would go to the highest-ranked conference champion team from the Group of Six. There will also be three at-large bids, including Notre Dame if they’re ranked within the top 16.
If this change passes, it would come just two years after the CFP began the 12-team playoff. Its first year in the 12-team playoff was this last fall, and fans and analysts alike wondered why the CFP hadn’t established the format earlier. And, now, the CFP could add four more teams to the postseason by next year.
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