There’s not much new with the College Football Playoff this year, but the uneven results of a bizarre season may yield a unique field.
After an expansion from four teams to 12 for the 2024 season, the only change for the 2025 iteration of the College Football Playoff is with the seeding. Last year, the top four conference champions received the four first-round byes no matter where they were ranked in the committee’s final set of rankings.
Advertisement
This season, the top four teams in the final rankings will get the top four seeds regardless of their status as a conference champion. The top five highest-ranked conference champs get a spot in the field regardless.
The playoff also announced some changes to the way it evaluates teams in the 2025 season, though the impact of that is less clear. Before the season, the playoff committee said it’ll place even more emphasis on games against strong opponents and reward teams more for wins against a good team and penalize teams less for losses to a better opponent.
What will the changes mean for the 2025 playoff?
The preseason changes won’t make much of a difference, but the way the 2025 college football season has unfolded will make Sunday’s selection show interesting for a different reason.
Advertisement
The rules state that the five highest-ranked conference champions will make the playoff field. In other words, the Power Four conferences are not guaranteed playoff bids. While the Big 12, Big Ten and SEC champions are locks for the postseason, the other two are basically up for grabs thanks to a weak ACC.
No. 17 Virginia plays Duke on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET. If the Cavaliers win, they’re in. If the Blue Devils win, Sun Belt champion James Madison likely gets the final playoff berth. Duke is 7-5 and made the ACC title game through a series of tiebreakers due to an ugly season of ACC results. While Virginia went 7-1 in conference play, five teams went 6-2 and the second slot came down to a series of tiebreakers, which the Blue Devils benefitted from.
If the Blue Devils win, they still probably wouldn’t be ranked because they already have losses to Illinois, Tulane, Georgia Tech, UConn and Virginia.
Which schools/conferences would take their place?
As the American Conference champion, No. 20 Tulane is essentially guaranteed a spot in the playoff at this point.
Advertisement
Tulane (11-2) knocked off No. 24 North Texas in the American title game on Friday to effectively secure a spot.
After that, No. 25 James Madison has pieced together an excellent year and sits at 12-1 after defeating Troy on Friday to win the Sun Belt championship. The Dukes will almost assuredly be the last team in the field if Virginia loses to Duke.
How the College Football Playoff looks after the penultimate rankings. (Davis Long/Yahoo Sports)
1. Ohio State (12-0)
2. Indiana (12-0)
3. Georgia (11-1)
4. Texas Tech (11-1)
5. Oregon (11-1)
6. Ole Miss (11-1)
7. Texas A&M (11-1)
8. Oklahoma (10-2)
9. Alabama (10-2)
10. Notre Dame (10-2)
11. BYU (11-1)
12. Miami (10-2)
13. Texas (9-3)
14. Vanderbilt (10-2)
15. Utah (10-2)
16. USC (9-3)
17. Virginia (10-2)
18. Arizona (9-3)
19. Michigan (9-3)
20. Tulane (11-2)
21. Houston (9-3)
22. Georgia Tech (9-3)
23. Iowa (8-4)
24. North Texas (11-2)
25. James Madison (12-1)