College Football Playoff, bowl projections after Week 1 - ESPN

With one week and three top-10 matchups in the books, we've already done some significant shuffling in our bowl projections.

The most noteworthy change is Alabama dropping out of the College Football Playoff field after a lackluster loss to Florida State. The Seminoles, on the other hand, saw their stock soar.

As in last season's inaugural 12-team CFP, the five highest-ranked conference champions, plus the next seven highest-ranked teams, will make the field. Unlike last year, the four highest-ranked teams (not necessarily conference champions) will be awarded first-round byes. The other eight teams will meet in first-round games at the campus sites of seeds Nos. 5 through 8.

From there, the quarterfinals and semifinals will be played in what had been the New Year's Six bowls, with this season's national championship game scheduled for Jan. 19 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.

All of that is just the tip of the iceberg, though. Apart from the playoff is the 35-game slate of bowl games, beginning with the Cricket Celebration Bowl on Dec. 13.

We're here for all of it.

ESPN bowl gurus Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach are projecting every postseason matchup, including their breakdowns of how the playoff will play out, and we'll be back every week of the season until the actual matchups are set.

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https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/46130692/2025-college-football-playoff-bowl-projections-week-1#picks">Playoff picks | https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/46130692/2025-college-football-playoff-bowl-projections-week-1#quarters">Quarterfinals
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/46130692/2025-college-football-playoff-bowl-projections-week-1#semis">Semis, title game |