{"id":730946,"date":"2026-02-05T10:52:33","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T10:52:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/730946\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T10:52:33","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T10:52:33","slug":"how-the-college-football-playoff-automatic-qualifiers-work-from-byes-to-seeds-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/730946\/","title":{"rendered":"How the College Football Playoff automatic qualifiers work, from byes to seeds"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The College Football Playoff’s expansion from four to 12 teams starting with the 2024 season provided teams with more room to break into the CFP.<\/p>\n

There’s also new way for teams to secure a spot in the field. That’s right \u2014 automatic qualifiers are now part of FBS and the College Football Playoff.<\/p>\n

Here’s a quick look at how the CFP automatic qualifiers work:<\/p>\n

\tThere are five automatic qualifiers \u2014 the five conference champions ranked highest by the CFP selection committee\u00a0get in automatically
\n\tNEW IN 2025<\/a>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The four highest-ranked champions no longer get byes into the quarterfinals automatically.
\n\tNEW IN 2026 \u2014<\/p>\n

\t\tThe 12-team College Football Playoff field each of the conference champions from the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten and SEC \u2014also known as the Power 4 \u2014 will receive an automatic bid regardless of their final ranking.
\n\t\tThe highest-ranked team from one of the Group of 6 conferences (American, CUSA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac-12 OR Sun Belt) \u2014 regardless of whether its a conference champion or not \u2014 will also get an automatic bid.
\n\t\tNotre Dame can also receive an automatic bid in 2026 if it ranks among the top-12 teams.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a deeper dive into how AQs work:<\/p>\n

Explaining the College Football Playoff automatic qualifiers<\/p>\n

Unlike college basketball\u2019s NCAA tournament, automatic bids won\u2019t be given to every conference champion for the CFP. For the FBS level’s CFP, automatic spots will be given to just the four conference champions from the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten and SEC.<\/p>\n

The fifth highest-ranked conference champions no longer automatically receives a bid as of 2026. Instead, the fifth AQs is dependent on how the CFP selection committee ranks teams from the\u00a0American, CUSA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac-12 OR Sun Belt conferences in the top 25, regardless of\u00a0whether a team won its conference championship game.<\/p>\n

If the fifth-highest ranked conference champion is ranked below a team that didn’t win its conference championship from the American, CUSA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac-12 OR Sun Belt, it will not automatically make the college football playoff.<\/p>\n

Also new in 2026 is Notre Dame’s ability to earn an automatic bid. The Fighting Irish can receive an automatic bid as an independent if its ranked inside the top-12 teams.<\/p>\n

CFP Breakdown:\u00a0How the College Football Playoff works<\/a><\/p>\n

Does automatic qualification translate to a first-round bye?<\/p>\n

While in year one of the 12-team CFP the top-four auto-qualifiers were seeded one through four no matter their ranking, beginning in the 2025, every team\u00a0will now be seeded directly based on the final ranking of the CFP Selection Committee.<\/p>\n

An auto-qualifer can only receive a bye if it is one of the four highest-ranked teams as only the top-four ranked teams (No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4) get byes.<\/p>\n

CFP Forecast: Predicting the College Football Playoff rankings, bracket for Week 13<\/a><\/p>\n

Who isn\u2019t eligible to be an AQ?\u00a0<\/p>\n

With the update to Notre Dame’s ability to earn an automatic bid in\u00a0 2026, The only FBS team ineligible to be an automatic qualifier is UConn, an independent team.<\/p>\n

Lawrence Price joined NCAA.com<\/a> in August 2024 as a Digital Editorial Intern. He has held numerous internships in the past few years, including ones at the Kansas City Star, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, TNT Sports and more. Additionally, he was a 2023 Oscar Pope Lift Every Voice Fellowship recipient. Price is a Spring 2024 graduate of Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Science in Journalism. You can follow him on Twitter @LPIII_TRES<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NCAA or its member institutions.<\/p>\n

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