The AFCA Coaches' Trophy sits on display at the Ohio Union on Ohio State University's campus. The Buckeyes football team will be presented with the trophy on Sunday as winners of the USA TODAY Sports and the American Football Coaches Association 2024 US LBM Coaches Poll. Adam Cairns-USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images

CFP Seeding Change Shows Who Carries the Big Sticks in College Football

Originally posted on Vanderbilt Commodores on SI
By Taylor Hodges | Last updated May 22, 2025 5:05 PM ET

If it wasn’t already obvious the SEC and Big Ten carry a pretty big stick in college sports, Thursday’s announcement by the College Football Playoff makes it so.

The College Football Playoff (CFP) Management Committee, comprised of the 10 FBS conference commissioners and the Director of Athletics at the University of Notre Dame, voted to change the seeding and bye policies of the playoff for the upcoming season.

Here’s the exact wording of the release, “The new policy will guarantee the five highest-ranked conference champions a place in the Playoff, but will no longer include a bye for the four highest-ranked champions. The 12-team bracket will now be seeded directly based on the final ranking of the CFP Selection Committee, with the four highest-ranked teams receiving a first-round bye. If one or more of the five highest-ranked conference champions are ranked outside the top 12, that team or teams would move up to the 12th seed, 11th seed, etc., based on the number of conference champions outside the top 12.”

That’s exactly what the SEC wanted (and probably Big Ten, too). Go back and look at SEC commissioner Greg Sankey’s comments on The Paul Finebaum Show. When talking about how the seeding impacted two SEC teams.

“Texas went from No. 3 to No. 5. Tennessee went from hosting to not hosting. It’s difficult to explain and defend that decision-making. Not to mention that group that’s left out. The way you break it down is, we have the top four spots in the 12-team Playoff that matter. Then, we have the next four, those are home games, the next four who are in, and the next four who are out.

Here’s how last year’s first round would’ve been setup under this new policy (and who the winner would face in the second round):

First round byes: Oregon, Georgia, Texas, Penn State

Tennessee would avoid a first-round game against Ohio State and Georgia avoids Notre Dame in a potential second round game (SEC teams lost both of those games). Overall, it’s a better outlook for SEC (and Big Ten) teams to go further in the playoff. It also theoretically opens the door for Notre Dame to get a first-round bye (as an independent school, it wasn’t eligible for a first round bye).

So, it’s clear who the winners of this are (Notre Dame, SEC, Big Ten) and who the losers are (ACC, Big 12, Group of 5).

A bigger takeaway, though, is about the future 16-team playoff we’ll inevitably see. In that format, the SEC and Big Ten want four automatic bids. Based on the SEC and Big Ten getting what it wants for the current format’s seeding policy, does anyone think that won’t happen?