College Football Playoff committee announces changes to strength of schedule metric

Boise State will have a smaller margin of error — and potentially more upside — in its bid to make a return trip to the College Football Playoff. 

On Wednesday, the CFP selection committee announced changes to the strength of schedule metrics the committee will use for the 2025-26 playoff. 

“Changes for the upcoming season include enhancements to the tools that the selection committee uses to assess schedule strength and how teams perform against their schedule,” the CFP selection committee said in a statement. “The current schedule strength metric has been adjusted to apply greater weight to games against strong opponents. An additional metric, record strength, has been added to the selection committee’s analysis to go beyond a team’s schedule strength to assess how a team performed against that schedule.

“This metric rewards teams defeating high-quality opponents while minimizing the penalty for losing to such a team. Conversely, these changes will provide minimal reward for defeating a lower-quality opponent while imposing a greater penalty for losing to such a team.”

In short, Boise State will not receive a substantial demerit for a loss to preseason No. 6 Notre Dame. The 25th-ranked Broncos and Irish are set to meet on Oct. 4 at Notre Dame Stadium. 

Under the new policy, Boise State would receive an even bigger boost with an upset win over the Irish. 

Boise State’s other 11 regular-season games are against teams outside the preseason AP top 25. UNLV, the expected top challenger to the Broncos in the Mountain West, received 21 votes (35th overall) in the preseason top 25. 

The CFP selection committee could hit the Broncos with a stiff penalty for losses outside of Notre Dame and UNLV. Victories against MWC teams other than UNLV will likely provide minimal value in the new metric. 

The first CFP rankings of the 2025 season will be released on Tuesday, Nov. 4. 

Boise State captured its second straight MWC title last year and earned the No. 3 overall seed for the inaugural 12-team playoff as one of the four highest-rated conference champions. The CFP will use straight seeding this season instead of rewarding conference champions with a first-round bye. 

The top five conference champions in the final CFP rankings will still earn a playoff spot. 

The Broncos will kick off the 2025 season on Thursday, Aug. 28 at South Florida.

Here is Boise State’s full schedule for the 2025 football season: 

Aug. 28 - at South Florida, 3:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Sept. 5 - Eastern Washington, 7 p.m. (FS1)

Sept. 13 - Bye

Sept. 20 - at Air Force, 5 p.m. (CBS Sports Network)

Sept. 27 - Appalachian State, TBA (FOX networks)

Oct. 4 - at Notre Dame, 1:30 p.m. (NBC)

Oct. 11 - New Mexico, TBA (FOX networks)

Oct. 18 - UNLV, TBA (FOX networks)

Oct. 24 - at Nevada, 8 p.m. (CBS Sports Network)

Nov. 1 - Fresno State, TBA (FOX networks)

Nov. 8 - Bye

Nov. 15 - at San Diego State, 8:30 p.m. (CBS Sports Network)

Nov. 22 - Colorado State, TBA (FOX networks)

Nov. 28 - at Utah State, 2 p.m. (CBS)