College football's postseason format for the 2025 season changed on Thursday.
According to Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger, College Football Playoff executives unanimously voted to adopt a straight-seeding model for the 2025 playoff during a scheduled call on Thursday afternoon.
The executives' adoption is expected to feature a financial compromise, Dellenger reported. In the current 12-team format, the College Football Playoff committee designates the top four seeds to the four best conference champions. However, in the new format, the committee will determine all 12 seeds but distribute the same revenue ($8 million) to the four best conference champions, even if those programs fall outside the top four seeds.
Had the College Football Playoff committee used the pending new format in the 2024 playoff, here's how the 12 seeds would have shaken out:
- Oregon
- Georgia
- Texas
- Penn State
- Notre Dame
- Ohio State
- Tennessee
- Indiana
- Boise State
- SMU
- Arizona State
- Clemson
As a result, Ohio State's path to its ninth national title, assuming the higher seeds win their matchups, would have been Arizona State, Texas, Georgia and Oregon.
While CFP executives may discuss the CFP format for 2026 and beyond on Thursday, Dellenger reported that the executives were not expected to make a formal decision. The Big Ten and SEC, which Dellenger reported "control" the future format, currently support a 16-team playoff that grants each conference twice as many automatic qualifiers (four) as the ACC and Big 12 (two).
