Report: College Football Playoff expected to adopt straight-seeding model in 2025

Changes could be coming to the College Football Playoff. Executives from the CFP are scheduled for a call today, May 22nd. There, Ross Dellenger reports that they’re expected to adopt a straight-seeding model for the 2025 Playoff. It would also feature a financial compromise of some kind.

This comes following criticism of seeding in last year’s College Football Playoff. Under the seeding model used last season, the top-four ranked conference champions earned a bye week. The remaining teams were seeded in the order that the selection committee had ranked them. However, that ended up with teams ranked lower by the selection committee getting the bye ahead of teams ranked higher.

Of the four teams that earned the bye last season, none were able to win their first game. That included ninth-ranked Boise State and 12th-ranked Arizona State. It also included the top-two ranked teams in Oregon and Georgia.

Instead of those four earning bye weeks, as they did last season, had there been straight-seeding in 2024, then Texas and Penn State would also have earned byes, taking the spots held by Boise State and Arizona State. It also would have shuffled the first round matchups and potentially changed what teams advanced throughout the Playoff.

This comes at a time when there have been discussions about several changes to the College Football Playoff. That includes potential further expansion to either 14 or 16 teams. Those discussions also include proposals that there would be automatic bids that go along with the CFP. In one, it would include four SEC teams, four Big Ten teams, two Big 12 teams, two ACC teams, one Group of Six team, and three automatic bids. Dellenger also reports that expansion may be discussed but a decision is unlikely.

Changes in the size of the Playoff itself probably aren’t coming for the 2025 season. However, it’s safe to expect that the expanded field would come with straight-seeding as well, even in a situation where there’d be bye weeks in the bracket.

Nick Saban explains changing opinion on College Football Playoff expansion

There is a ton of debate about the College Football Playoff and what size it should be. Not everyone agrees, and for some like legendary head coach Nick Saban, it’s easy to have a shift in opinion.

“Back in the (day), I was never for expanding the Playoff, because I thought bowl games were really important to the history and tradition of college football,” Saban said. “But now that we have expanded the Playoff and bowl games have taken a less significant role. So I think expanding the Playoff and having as many teams involved as we can without playing too many games for the players, that’s a little bit of concern, is probably a good thing.”