IRVING, Texas — Big changes are coming to the College Football Playoff (CFP) starting in the 2025-26 season. The management committee, which includes the 10 major FBS conference commissioners and the Director of Athletics at the University of Notre Dame, recently made a unanimous decision to tweak the seeding and bye policies for the 12-team Playoff format.
Under the new rules, the five highest-ranked conference champions are guaranteed a spot in the Playoff. However, this set of guidelines will eliminate the first-round bye for the four highest-ranked teams, which was previously in place. The 12-team bracket will now be seeded directly based on the final rankings from the CFP Selection Committee, ensuring that the four top-ranked teams will still receive a bye into the second round.
If some of those five top-ranked conference champions are ranked outside the top 12, they will move up to fill the 12th seed, 11th seed, and so on, based on how many conference champions fall outside that top bracket.
Rich Clark, the executive director of the College Football Playoff, explained the reasoning behind the change, stating, “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.” He added that these modifications will continue to reward teams for winning their conference championships while also ensuring that the postseason bracket reflects the best performances throughout the regular season.
Aside from these changes, most operational policies will stay the same. The 2025-26 College Football Playoff schedule includes key matchups such as the Playoff Quarterfinal at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic on Wednesday, December 31. This will be followed by a series of Playoff Quarterfinal games on New Year’s Day: the Capital One Orange Bowl, the Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential, and the Allstate Sugar Bowl.
Teams that win these games will advance to the Playoff Semifinals, taking place at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl on Thursday, January 8, and the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on Friday, January 9. Fans can look forward to seeing the 2026 College Football Playoff National Championship held at Hard Rock Stadium on Monday, January 19, starting at 7:30 p.m. ET. More early details, including the dates and times for the first round of the Playoff, will be shared later this year.
