College Football Playoff Abandons Original 12-Team Seeding Model

The College Football Playoff expanded to 12 teams for the first time in 2024 and while changes are coming again further down the road, the powers that be have made an adjustment to the present model for the upcoming season

In the first year of a 12-team format, the four-highest ranked conference champions received the top four seeds and first-round byes. That included Boise State, who finished as the No. 9 team in the College Football Playoff Rankings and earned the No. 3 seed, along with Arizona State — No. 12 overall at the end of the season — seeded at the No. 4 slot.

On Thursday, CFP executives unanimously approved of a new straight seeding format for the 2025-26 season, therefore granting the top four overall teams with the highest seeds and byes in the first round.

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.

Get breaking news alerts from Heather Dinich through the… pic.twitter.com/cYzTPsW6CK

— ESPN (@espn) May 22, 2025

“Today’s decision was done in the best interest of the sport. It may not always benefit the ACC but it was the right decision and that’s a responsibility I take very seriously,” ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said.

The five-highest ranked conference champions will still earn an automatic bid into the tournament. The rule additionally benefits Notre Dame, a program that was unable to secure a first-round bye due to its independent status. During the 2024 playoff, each of the top four teams — Oregon, Georgia, Boise State and Arizona State — lost their initial games in the quarterfinals.

Changes will not impact the the financial distribution with $8 million rewarded to the four highest-ranked conference champions — $4 million for reaching the playoff and $4 million for the quarterfinals.

This move comes amid future talks of changing the CFP after its initial two-year model. The SEC and Big 10 are pushing for a 16-team format that would follow a 4-4-2-2-1 structure. This would benefit the SEC and Big 10, providing four automatic qualifiers with the ACC and Big 12 receiving two apiece and one for the Group of Six, leaving three at-large bids available.

The ACC received two bids in last season’s CFP with Clemson receiving an automatic bid after winning the conference and SMU earning an at-large bid.

After a 7-0 start in 2024, Pitt started to receive national talk and was a playoff hopeful. However, losing five games in a row to finish the regular season ended any possibility of making the ACC Conference Championship.

Pitt sits low in the oddsmaker’s’ eyes when it comes to ACC title contention in 2025 with the 11th-best odds to win it all, according to FanDuel.