The College Football Playoff announced this week that it will move to a straight-seeding format for its 12-team bracket beginning this season, moving away from last season’s format of the four highest-ranked conference champions getting the top four seeds and the first-round byes that went with them.

Changes to the 2025 College Football Playoff are underway with a new seeding model set to debut this fall. First-round byes remain, but they will now go to the selection committee's top-four seeds independent of conference championships.

The College Football Playoff will go to a more straightforward way of filling the bracket next season, announcing Thursday that it will place teams strictly on where they are ranked instead of moving pieces around to reward conference champions.