Georgia football coach Kirby Smart during the the national championship celebration at Sanford Stadium in Athens on Jan. 15, 2022. Joshua L. Jones / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

College Football Playoff Moving to Straight Seeding Format in 2025

Originally posted on Georgia Bulldogs on SI
By Jonathan Williams | Last updated May 22, 2025 2:15 PM ET

The College Football Playoff will be moving to a straight seeding format in 2025.

A major change for the college football playoffs was announced on Thursday as it announced the playoff will move to a straight seeding model this fall. This means the selection committee’s top four teams with the top four seeds and a first-round bye, according to ESPN.

This means that conference champions will not receive an automatic first round bye like last year. Instead, the top four teams that are decided by the committee will receive the byes. So last season, Oregon, Georgia, Boise State and Arizona State received first round byes for being the four highest ranked conference champions.

Had they used this year's model, Georgia, Texas, Oregon and Penn State would have received first round byes.

This article first appeared on Georgia Bulldogs on SI and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: