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What's new to CFP format this year? Explaining playoff bracket changes
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- What's new to CFP format this year? Explaining playoff bracket changes
Last season, the College Football Playoff underwent its biggest change since it debuted in 2014, with the field expanding from four teams to 12 teams.
This season, the CFP will now undergo more alterations to components introduced with last year's expansion: seeding for first-round byes and strength of schedule metrics. They won't be as drastic compared to the sweeping changes that accompanied the 12-team playoff, but still have an impact on where teams are seeded under this new methodology .
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The first look at the new change to the CFP seeding will come at 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Nov. 4, when the first iteration of the rankings will be released on ESPN.
Heading into Tuesday's rankings release, top-ranked, defending national champion Ohio State looks poised to be the initial top-seeded team in the 12-team field, while the Big Ten and the SEC are expected to field at least half of the top 12 .
Here's more to know on the changes to the College Football Playoff this year ahead of Tuesday's rankings reveal:
CFP format changes for 2025-26
CFP bracket seeding
The biggest change to the CFP format will be how seeding is handled, especially as it relates to first-round byes.
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While the top four teams will continue to receive byes, the Nos. 1-4 seeds will no longer be guaranteed to conference champions (as was the case last year). The top four seeds instead will go to the four highest-ranked teams as ranked by the CFP selection committee in the final top 25, regardless of whether they won a conference championship.
In other words, while the criteria for the teams that make the 12-team field remain unchanged — five highest-ranked conference champions and seven at-large teams — the seeding methodology behind how the 12-team field is filled out has.
"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," CFP executive director Rich Clark said in a May 22 news release . "This change will continue to allow guaranteed access to the playoff by rewarding teams for winning their conference championship, but it will also allow us to construct a postseason bracket that recognizes the best performance on the field during the entire regular season."
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If one or more of the five highest-ranked conference champions finish outside the top 12 of the final CFP rankings, they will be slotted in as the lowest seeds of the field, depending on how many rank outside the top 12.
If the CFP selection committee used the straight seeding format last year, neither Mountain West champion Boise State nor Big 12 champion Arizona State would have received a top-four seed, as they were ranked No. 9 and No. 12 in the final CFP top 25, respectively.
Here's a visualization of how last year's final CFP top 25 rankings would have seeded the 12-team field in 2024 vs. 2025:
2024
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No. 1 seed:Oregon (Big Ten) *
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No. 2 seed:Georgia (SEC) *
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No. 3 seed:Boise State (Mountain West) *
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No. 4 seed:Arizona State (Big 12) *
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No. 5 seed:Texas
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No. 6 seed:Penn State
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No. 7 seed:Notre Dame
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No. 8 seed:Ohio State
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No. 9 seed:Tennessee
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No. 10 seed:Indiana
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No. 11 seed:SMU
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No. 12 seed:Clemson (ACC) *
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* Denotes one of five highest-ranked conference champions
2025
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No. 1 seed:Oregon (Big Ten) *
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No. 2 seed:Georgia (SEC) *
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No. 3 seed:Texas
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No. 4 seed:Penn State
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No. 5 seed:Notre Dame
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No. 6 seed:Ohio State
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No. 7 seed:Tennessee
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No. 8 seed:Indiana
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No. 9 seed:Boise State (Mountain West) *
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No. 10 seed:SMU
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No. 11 seed:Arizona State (Big 12) *
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No. 12 seed:Clemson (ACC) *
* Denotes one of five highest-ranked conference champions
Strength of schedule, record strength for CFP rankings
Two more changes to the CFP include the enhancement of the CFP's strength of schedule metric to "apply greater weight to games against strong opponents" and the introduction of a "record strength" metric, which assesses how a team performed against that schedule.
"This metric rewards teams defeating high-quality opponents while minimizing the penalty for losing to such a team," the CFP said in an Aug. 20 news release . "Conversely, these changes will provide minimal reward for defeating a lower-quality opponent while imposing a greater penalty for losing to such a team."
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REQUIRED READING: CFP bracket must reward best teams, not best records. This isn't rocket science
CFP 2025-26 schedule
Here is a list of full dates for the 2026 College Football Playoff:
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Selection show: Sunday, Dec. 7
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First round: Friday, Dec. 19 and Saturday, Dec. 20
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Quarterfinals: Wednesday, Dec. 31 and Thursday, Jan. 1
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Semifinals: Thursday, Jan. 8 and Friday, Jan. 9
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National championship: Monday, Jan. 19
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: CFP format: What's new this year for College Football Playoff bracket
