College Football Playoff considering significant change for 2025
Jan 13, 2020; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Detailed view of the 2020 College Football Playoff National Championship logo at midfield at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
One of the biggest complaints about the 12-team College Football Playoff has been the way seeding was determined, and there is a chance that process could change in 2025.
The four highest-ranked conference champions received a first-round bye in this year’s College Football Playoff, which is the first tournament to feature 12 teams. That format has been widely criticized, as many people feel the four highest-ranked teams in the final College Football Playoff Rankings should be the top-four seeds and receive a bye.
Oregon, Georgia, Boise State and Arizona State are the top-four seeds this year and received an automatic bid into the quarterfinals. Oregon and Georgia were ranked Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, in the final CFP Rankings of the season. Boise State was ranked No. 9 and Arizona State was ranked No. 12.
According to Brett McMurphy of Action Network, there will be “in-depth discussions” this offseason about doing away with automatic byes for the four highest-ranked conference champions. The change would require unanimous approval in order to be implemented for 2025.
There will be “in-depth discussions” about not guaranteeing conference champs the top 4 @CFBPlayoff seeds in 2025, sources said. Top 5 conference champs still would get in playoff but rankings would determine seeds, sources said. This would require unanimous approval by all stake…
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 30, 2024
The biggest argument in favor of giving the four highest-ranked conference champions a bye is that those teams would have had to play in their respective conference championship games. Some view the automatic bye as a reward for playing an additional game.
Others believe there is no reason a team like Arizona State should receive a bye while Texas, which finished No. 3 in the final College Football Playoff ranking, had to play in the opening round.
It is clear that the College Football Playoff is not done making significant changes. A tweak to the seeding process is one that seems inevitable.