College football adjusts playoff structure to benefit top-ranked teams

The NCAA will adjust their seeding system for the 2025-26 College Football Playoffs (CFP). The association will be remaining with it's newly-implemented 12-team format, but it is restructuring the way first-round byes are determined.

Rather than granting byes to the four highest-ranked conference champions - as it was last season - the top-four nationally ranked teams straight-up will be awarded first-round byes. Also, the five highest-ranked conference champions will be given an automatic playoff birth.

"After evaluating the first year of the 12-team Playoff, the CFP management committee felt it was in the best interest of the game to make this adjustment," said the executive director of the CFP, Rich Clark, in a statement (via Heather Dinich of ESPN). "This change will continue to allow guaranteed access to the Playoff by rewarding teams for winning their conference championship, but it will also allow us to construct a postseason bracket that recognizes the best performance on the field during the entire regular season."

The structure change will allow for non-conference (independent) schools, most notably Notre Dame, to earn a playoff bye. In theory, this is a more fair system because it bases byes off of national rank instead of a team winning one game. Remember, all four of teams that had byes in the 2024-25 CFP lost their first game (i.e. the format was wrong).

Although on paper the change seems to negatively effect teams in conferences, particularly power-four schools, the change overall seems to be welcomed.

"We all have a responsibility to serve our constituents while also being mindful as to what's best for college football," said ACC commissioner Jim Phillips (via ESPN). "Today's decision was done in the best interest of the sport. It may not always benefit the ACC, but it was the right decision and that's a responsibility I take very seriously."

So, in the midst of incredible much turmoil - and at a moment that seems like whenever the NCAA attempts to make a change it's accompanied by a lawsuit - it appears that College Football made a beneficial adjustment.

Luke Graham is a digital sports content co-op for 98.5 the Sports Hub. He is currently a sophomore at Northeastern University studying communications and media studies. Read all his articles here, and follow him on X @LukeGraham05.