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College Football Playoff

ABOUT THE 12-TEAM COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF FORMAT

 

12-TEAM PLAYOFF INFOGRAPHIC

2025-26 CFP BRACKET

  • The 12 participating schools will be the conference champions from the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten Conference, Big 12 Conference, Southeastern Conference and the highest-ranked team from the American, Conference USA, Mid-American Conference, Mountain West, Pac-12 Conference and Sun Belt Conference, along with the next seven highest-ranked teams. The University of Notre Dame will be included in the playoff if it is ranked among the top 12 teams in the final rankings.

  • The four highest-ranked schools will be seeded one through four and will receive a first-round bye. The remaining schools will be seeded 5-12 based on their final ranking. If any of the automatic qualifiers is not ranked in the top 25, the committee will evaluate the team(s) using its established selection criteria and determine their relative positions for seeding purposes, and then seed them at the bottom of the 12-team pool.

  • The eight schools seeded No. 5-12 will play in the CFP First Round with the higher seeds hosting the lower seeds either on campus or at other sites designated by the higher-seeded institution (No. 12 at No. 5, No. 11 at No. 6, No. 10 at No. 7 and No. 9 at No. 8.).

  • The No. 1 seed will select its quarterfinal bowl site and the semifinal site into which it will advance should it win its quarterfinal game.

  • The No. 2 seed, followed by the No. 3 seed, will then select from the remaining quarterfinal bowl sites. Those two teams will feed into the remaining semifinal.

  • The No. 4 seed will be assigned to the remaining quarterfinal bowl site.

  • With the four highest-ranked schools bowls selected, their four CFP Quarterfinal opponents will be dictated by the bracket (i.e., No. 1 vs. No. 8/9 winner, No. 4 vs. No. 5/12 winner, No. 2 vs. 7/10 winner; No. 3 vs. 6/11 winner.)

  • The College Football Playoff bracket will follow the selection committee’s rankings, with no modifications made to avoid rematches between teams that may have played during the regular season or are from the same conference.

  • The bracket will remain in effect throughout the playoff (i.e., no re-seeding).

  • All 11 games will be under the CFP umbrella with the administrative policies determined by the CFP.

 
2025-26 College Football Playoff Infographic
 
 

2025-26 COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF SCHEDULE AND BRACKET

CFP FIRST ROUND (ON-CAMPUS)
Fri., Dec. 19, 2025:
One Game		 Sat., Dec. 20, 2025:
Three Games
PLAYOFF QUARTERFINALS
Wed., Dec. 31, 2025:
Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic		 Thur., Jan. 1, 2026:
Capital One Orange Bowl
(early afternoon)		 Thur., Jan. 1, 2026:
Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential
(late afternoon)		 Thur., Jan. 1, 2026:
Allstate Sugar Bowl
(primetime)
PLAYOFF SEMIFINALS
Thur., Jan. 8, 2026:
Vrbo Fiesta Bowl		 Fri., Jan. 9, 2026:
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl
2026 CFP NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Mon., Jan. 19, 2026
Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida
2025-26 College Football Playoff Bracket