The College Football Playoff management committee agreed Thursday to the change everyone has expected for months.
Not the expansion to 14 or 16 teams.
Or the implementation of four automatic bids for both the Big Ten and SEC.
Or the calendar shift to accommodate the extra games.
Or the diminishment of the selection committee’s role.
All those changes are coming … in the 2026 season.
The switch approved Thursday is strictly for the upcoming fall: The 12 playoff participants will be seeded based on their final ranking by the selection committee.
No longer will the top four seeds, and opening-round byes, be guaranteed to the highest-ranked conference champions.
Instead, the seeds will follow the rankings regardless of a team’s finish within its conference.
In other words, the runners-up in the Big Ten and SEC could receive the No. 3 and 4 seeds and have a bye into the quarterfinals. Heck, one of those conferences could claim three of the top four seeds.
“After evaluating the first year of the 12-team Playoff, the CFP Management Committee felt it was in the best interest of the game to make this adjustment,” CFP executive director Rich Clark said in a statement issued Thursday morning.
“This change will continue to allow guaranteed access to the Playoff by rewarding teams for winning their conference championship, but it will also allow us to construct a postseason bracket that recognizes the best performance on the field during the entire regular season.”
The change is a power play by the Big Ten and SEC that comes at the expense of the ACC and Big 12 champions and the top-ranked team from the Group of Five.
After all, Boise State and Arizona State were the No. 3 and 4 seeds last season, respectively.
However, the opening-round bye comes with a cost — with two costs, actually:
1. It eliminates the possibility of playing at home, with all the commercial and psychological benefits that a playoff game brings to the campus community.
2. It creates a competitive disadvantage because of the long layoff.
That piece was apparent in Oregon’s blowout loss to Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. The Buckeyes won an opening-round game at home (over Tennessee), then had 10 days to rest and prepare for the quarterfinals. The Ducks took the field after a three-and-a-half week layoff, and the rust showed.
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The revision announced Thursday does not guarantee the ACC and Big 12 champions, or the top-ranked team from the Group of Five, would receive a home game in the opening round if they are outside the top four of the committee’s final rankings. Home games are allocated to the No. 5, 6, 7 and 8 seeds. But a home game becomes a possibility, and the long layoff would be eliminated.
And there’s a second piece to consider: the cash.
Under the current model, the CFP awards $8 million to each quarterfinalist, with $4 million based on participation in the event and $4 million from appearing in the quarterfinal.
According to Yahoo, the four highest-ranked conference champions will continue to receive the full $8 million, even if they are not among the top four seeds.
That was, it seems, the point of compromise with the Big Ten and SEC. The other conferences agreed to base the seeds on the rankings while the Big Ten and SEC agreed to let the highest-ranked conference champions keep the $4 million even if they aren’t in the quarterfinals.
The sweetest spot in the system for next season is clear: Win your conference and collect one of the No. 5-to-8 seeds, a combination that would feature a home game, avoid the long layoff and provide the extra $4 million.
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