College Football Playoff committee adapts new seeding model

Breaking: The 12-team College Football Playoff will move to a straight seeding model this fall, rewarding the selection committee’s top four teams with the top four seeds and a first-round bye, sources told @CFBHeather.

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Starting this fall, the 12-team College Football Playoff is moving to a straight seeding model that will reward the top four teams with the top four seeds and a bye in the first round.

The news of the CFP Management Committee’s decision broke on Thursday afternoon, as a unanimous decision was made to implement the new rules ahead of the 2025-2026 college football season.

The implemented seeding significantly benefits teams like Notre Dame, which now can be eligible to earn a first-round bye if the program is ranked within the top four teams in the country.

According to executive director Rich Clark, the committee felt this was the best option for the CFP moving forward.

“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. This change will continue to allow guaranteed access to the Playoff by rewarding teams for winning their conference championships, but it also will allow us to construct a postseason bracket that recognizes the best performance on the field the entire regular season,” Clark said.

With this modification to seeding, the committee stated that if one or more of the five top-ranked conference champions are ranked outside of the top 12 teams, those programs would move up to the No. 11 seed or No. 12 seed based on the number of conference winners outside of the top 12.

According to the CFP committee, all other rules remain untouched heading into this year:

Rankings will continue to…


Source link : https://aggieswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/2025/05/22/college-football-playoff-committee-adapts-new-seeding-model/83798456007/

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Publish date : 2025-05-22 23:00:00

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