The 2025 College Football Playoff bracket is officially out. Let the debates rage on.
The big controversy this year was Notre Dame getting left out of the 12-team bracket despite being ranked ahead of Miami as recently as last Tuesday. But moving on from that debacle, the 12-team bracket is set, and it appears we’re in for a fun few weeks of postseason college football.
The College Football Playoff has significantly changed over the years. It debuted in 2014 as a four-team playoff with at-large bids for all four spots, which always left at least one Power 5 conference out of the bracket. Six different programs won titles over the 10 years of the four-team bracket before the Playoff expanded to 12 teams in 2024.
In theory, the 12-team bracket opened up the possibility for all 133 FBS programs to make a run to the national championship. Five of the 12 spots were awarded to the five highest-ranked conference champions, while the other seven spots were at-large bids.
The big change in the 12-team bracket format from 2024 to ‘25 was how the first-round byes were awarded. In 2025, the four top-ranked teams—No. 1 Indiana, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Georgia and No. 4 Texas Tech—earned a bye and automatically advanced to the quarterfinals. But in 2024, those four first-round byes were given to the four highest-ranked conference champions, which advanced Mountain West champion Boise State (No. 9) and Big 12 champ Arizona State (No. 12) to the quarterfinals while No. 3 Texas and No. 4 Penn State had to play in the first round.
There is likely further bracket expansion on the horizon in 2026 and beyond. But before that happens, let’s check out how the 2025 bracket would have looked in previous formats:
2025 College Football Playoff final rankings
Here’s how the 12-person CFP committee slotted the top 25 teams in the final College Football Playoff rankings announced Sunday:
- Indiana (13–0)
- Ohio State (9–0)
- Georgia (12–1)
- Texas Tech (12–1)
- Oregon (11–1)
- Ole Miss (11–1)
- Texas A&M (11–1)
- Oklahoma (10–2)
- Alabama (10–3)
- Miami (10–2)
- Notre Dame (10–2)
- BYU (11–2)
- Texas (9–3)
- Vanderbilt (10–2)
- Utah (10–2)
- USC (9–3)
- Arizona (9–3)
- Michigan (9–3)
- Virginia (10–3)
- Tulane (11–2)
- Houston (9–3)
- Georgia Tech (9–3)
- Iowa (8–4)
- James Madison (12–1)
- North Texas (11–2)
(Note: Teams in bold were selected to the 12-team playoff.)
How the 2025 CFP bracket would look with 2024 format
As mentioned above, under 2024 bracket rules, No. 2 Ohio State would not get a first-round bye because the Buckeyes lost the Big Ten title game to Indiana on Saturday night. Instead, that bye would go to No. 20 Tulane, the fourth highest-ranked conference champion.
Byes: No. 1 Indiana, No. 2 Georgia, No. 3 Texas Tech, No. 4 Tulane
First-round matchups: No. 5 Ohio State vs. No. 12 JMU; No. 6 Oregon vs. No. 11 Miami; No. 7 Ole Miss vs. No. 10 Alabama; No. 8 Texas A&M vs. No. 9 Oklahoma
RELATED: What Potential Matchups in 16- and 24-Team CFP Formats Would Look Like in 2025
How the 2025 CFP would look with four-team format
Under the four-team format, the top four ranked teams—No. 1 Indiana, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Georgia and No. 4 Texas Tech—would advance to the College Football Playoff.
There would be no Notre Dame debate, as the Irish would’ve missed the Playoff by seven spots in the rankings and likely would be preparing for a bowl game. Instead, all talk about CFP snubs would be about a trio of one-loss teams toward the top of the rankings in No. 5 Oregon, No. 6 Ole Miss and No. 7 Texas A&M.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as How 2025 College Football Playoff Bracket Would Look Using Old Formats.