College Football Playoff seeding changes - How 2024 would have played out - ESPN

After months of meeting to discuss things to discuss at future meetings, the people in charge of the College Football Playoff actually made a decision on Thursday, and it was one we've assumed they'd make for a while. After last year's 12-team CFP gave byes to the four most highly ranked conference champions, this year's will not.

Conference commissioners voted to go to a straight seeding format (with five spots still reserved for conference champions) in 2025.

There are still plenty of things to discuss regarding what the CFP will look like in 2026 and beyond — and good lord, don't even get me started on how much I don't like where we're probably headed in that regard — but with the 2025 season starting in less than 100 days, we at least know how things will take shape this fall. Here are a few thoughts regarding these changes.

To see what something might look like in the future, my first step is always to revisit the past. Last year's 12-teamer, the first-ever genuine tournament at the highest level of college football, indeed handed out byes to conference champions and gave us the weird visual of having two different numbers listed next to the teams in the bracket.

Boise State, for instance, was ranked ninth in the overall CFP rankings, but the Broncos got the No. 3 seed as the third-ranked conference champ. Arizona State was simultaneously 12th and fourth. Granted, the NFL does something similar, giving the top three seeds in each conference to the winners of each individual division (which occasionally gives us odd pairings such as 9-8 Tampa Bay hosting 11-6 Philadelphia in 2023 or the 10-7 Los Angeles Rams hosting 14-3 Minnesota in 2024). But from the start, it was clear there was some dissatisfaction with this