Last season marked the beginning of the 12-team College Football Playoff era, expanding from the four-team postseason that began in 2014. After just one year, the format might be poised for change.
While another expansion of the Playoff format is not expected this offseason, changes to the seeding and the criteria for teams earning first-round byes might occur. This follows an outcry from those involved in the game, including players, coaches, fans and media, regarding how the initial 12-team Playoff was seeded.
According to CBS Sports and 247Sports national college football reporter Brandon Marcello, the powers that be in college football are seeking to change the seeding process and remove first-round byes for conference champions.
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Last season, the 12-team Playoff consisted of the five highest-ranked conference champions, all of whom received automatic bids to the postseason, along with seven at-large teams selected based on the end-of-season Playoff selection committee rankings. The four highest-ranked conference champions earned first-round byes, while the other eight teams competed in the first-round games hosted by the higher seed.
The new “straight seeding” proposal would not seed the four highest-ranked conference champions No. 1-4 but instead would give the first-round byes to the top four teams in the final Playoff selection committee ranking.
While the College Football Playoff administrators must approve this proposal with a unanimous vote from the 10 FBS conferences and Notre Dame, there is optimism that this change could happen as early as the 2025 season, according to Marcello. The Big Ten and SEC have already expressed support for a shift to straight seeding, while other conferences are expected to align with this idea. According to Marcello, this approval could occur as soon as next month.
The first 12-team Playoff featured Oregon (Big Ten champion), Georgia (SEC), Boise State (Mountain West) and Arizona State (Big 12) ranked No. 1-4 in the bracket, receiving first-round byes. All four conference champions were defeated in the quarterfinals by an average margin of more than two touchdowns. No. 8 seed Ohio State won the first 12-team Playoff, despite having to play an additional postseason game, by defeating No. 7 seed Notre Dame in the national championship game.
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Had there been straight seeding in the first 12-team Playoff, the first-round byes would have gone to No. 1 Oregon, No. 2 Georgia, No. 3 Texas and No. 4 Penn State. The first-round games would have seen the Fighting Irish hosting the Sun Devils, the Buckeyes welcoming Alabama to Ohio Stadium, SMU traveling to Tennessee and Indiana hosting Boise State. The Ducks’ reward for going undefeated in the regular season was a rematch with the Scarlet and Gray in the Rose Bowl. The second-ranked Bulldogs received a second-round matchup against Notre Dame, one of the hottest teams in the country entering the postseason.
College Football Playoff officials are set to meet in mid-June. The hope is that a new format will be approved by then. Ongoing discussions also concern a potential expansion of the field to 14 or 16 teams, according to Marcello.
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