One other wrinkle has developed for the second yr of the 12-team College Football Playoff.
CFP executives unanimously voted Thursday on a pivot to a straight seeding format for the upcoming yr, in keeping with Yahoo Sports.
Teams will now be seeded 1-12 based on the choice committee’s rankings relatively than reserving the highest 4 seeds for the conference champions.
Within the straight seeding format, the highest 4 seeds will get byes into the quarterfinals.
The vote went through the management committee, the ten FBS conference commissioners and Notre Dame’s athletic director, Pete Bevacqua, after an unbalanced bracket emerged last season under last yr’s format.
As an example, Boise State was the No. 3 seed while 11-win Texas and Penn State endured tougher, competitive schedules.
They went on to win the Mountain West championship and benefited from the highest-ranked conference champion rule.
The 4 teams that received first-round byes last season were Oregon, Boise State, Arizona and Georgia.
None of them moved on past the quarterfinals.
Oregon, the Big Ten champion, drew eighth-seeded Ohio State for his or her Rose Bowl matchup and were left within the dust, losing 41-21 against the eventual national champions.
Geese coach Dan Lanning didn’t blame the seeding format.
“We had a chance,” Lanning said. “We didn’t reap the benefits of the chance. I’m not going to make excuses for our opportunity.”
The vote also kept in place a hefty payout for the top-four conference champs.
The 4 highest-ranked conference champions still are expected to earn $8 million — $4 million each for winning the conference and making it to the quarterfinal — even in the event that they don’t rank throughout the top 4 seeds, not less than for this yr.
But starting in 2026, the playoff will include a brand new revenue-distribution system with conferences earning a base amount relatively than performance-based payments.
More changes — including expanding the sector — are expected to be discussed, because the 12-team expanded playoff model’s contract ends after the 2025 season.
