College Football Playoff Rankings
The College Football Playoff (CFP) is the system that will determine a national champion for the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) since the 2014 season.
Twelve-Team Playoff (2024-Present)
The CFP Board of Managers voted in 2023 to expand the playoff to 12 teams beginning in 2024, an arrangement that will last at least through the end of the 2026 season. The 12-team CFP format features, for the first time, a first round of playoffs not attached to bowl games. The first round will consist of seeds 5 through 12 playing at the home stadium of the better-seeded teams, or another venue of their choice. The quarterfinal and semifinal games will consist of the “New Year’s Six” bowl games, with a national championship game after that. The College Football Playoff National Championship game is then played on the first Monday that is six or more days after the Semifinals. The venue of the championship game is then selected based on bids submitted by cities.
Features of the expanded playoff include:
- Starting in 2026, each champion of a Power Four conference (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, and SEC) was guaranteed a bid, along with one Group of Six team. Every Power Four conference champion is guaranteed a bid, regardless of their ranking in comparison to Group of Six conference champions. The Group of Six representative will be the highest-ranked team from that cohort, and does not have to be a conference champion.
- At-large bids for the seven highest-ranked remaining teams, which could include additional conference champions. Starting in 2026, if independent Notre Dame is ranked in the top 12, it is guaranteed an at-large bid.
- For the 2024 season, the four highest-ranked conference champions received first-round byes. This was changed for the 2025 season, with the four highest-ranked teams overall now receiving first-round byes, regardless of conference champion status.
- The remaining teams will play each other in the first round at the home fields of the better seeds or an alternate venue of their choosing; match-ups will be 5-12, 6-11, 7-10, and 8-9.
- The quarterfinals and semifinals will be hosted by the New Year’s Six (the Cotton, Fiesta, Orange, Peach, Rose, and Sugar bowls) with the semifinal games being determined on the same rotation as in the previous format, except the Rose Bowl, which will remain on New Years Day annually and will always be a quarterfinal game.[
- First round games will occur in December, quarterfinal games on or around New Year’s Day, semifinal games at least one week later, and the championship game one week after the semifinals.
Four-Team Playoff (2014-23)
Four teams played in two semifinal games, with the winners advancing to the College Football Championship Game. Six bowl games – the Rose, Sugar , Orange, Cotton, Fiesta, and Peach – rotated as hosts for the semifinal games. The rotation was set on a three-year cycle with the following pairings: Rose/Sugar, Orange/Cotton, and Fiesta/Peach. The two semifinals plus the other four top-tier bowls were marketed as the “New Year’s Six”, with three bowls played per day, typically on consecutive days that included New Year’s Day. The championship game was played on the first Monday that was six or more days after the semifinals. The game’s venue was selected based on bids submitted by cities. A committee of 13 experts selected and seeds the teams in the CPF.