Projecting College Football Bracket After Format Changes

The Arizona State Sun Devils football program took a potential hit on Friday with a unanimous decision surrounding the College Football Playoff for the upcoming season.

While the Big 12 and ACC champions will still receive an automatic bid into the yearly tournament, it will not come with a guaranteed top-four seeding, as was the case in 2024.

Instead, the champions of those two leagues have an increased likelihood of needing to play in the first round of games - potentially even traveling to a road site, despite having won their conference.

This follows Arizona State nearly beating the University of Texas in a quarterfinal matchup at the Peach bowl - the performance silenced many critics that labeled the automatic bye system as unfair, but the rule change passed regardless.

Now, here is a current projection of what a 12-team field could look like with the Sun Devils in the fold:

BYES (4): 1. Ohio State; 2. Oregon; 3. Texas; 4. Georgia

The usual suspects - these four programs are no longer required to win their respective conference title to earn a first round BYE - expect the top four to be exclusively SEC and Big 10 squads.

First Round Matchups: (5) Alabama vs (12) Boise State; (6) Clemson vs (11) Tennessee; (7) Penn State vs (10) Arizona State (8) Michigan vs (9) Notre Dame

Alabama bounces back after a relatively disappointing 2024 campaign and could be set to play the group of five representative in the first round - for now that is Boise State.

Clemson has an extremely favorable schedule this season in general - expect the Tigers to enter playoff season with just one loss, and for Tennessee to be on the edge of the playoff discussion despite losing Nico Iamaleava.

Penn State figures to be a yearly fixture in the expanded field at this point as one of the top three-to-four programs in the Big 10 - this is where Arizona State could be truly tested, as they make a road trip to one of the rowdiest environments in collelge football instead of enjoying the first round of games off.

Michigan and Notre Dame for the right to play Ohio State in the next round? That is an absolute win for college football fans.

Read more about predictions surrounding the schedule here, and bold predictions about the upcoming team here.

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