Who gets the first 4 spots again?

[Volizona]

Reading the official rules of the playoff again and I’m confused. Isn’t it supposed to be the SEC, Big 10, Big 12, ACC and best group of 5 team? Do they select the best 4 conf winners of these 5? Prior to todays games, why was Boise State in the top 4? Is this because they are ranked higher the the Big 12 leader? Does the 5th best conference winner end up wherever their ranking is (not the 5th slot for the 5th best conference winner?). I guess after the top 4 conf winners are selected, it’s anything goes (or straight rankings) for 5-12 brackets? The best ND can ever do is 5th?

 

[deezvols]

The 4 highest ranked conference champions (that’s my understanding).

 

[VolCalls]

Reading the official rules of the playoff again and I’m confused. Isn’t it supposed to be the SEC, Big 10, Big 12, ACC and best group of 5 team? Do they select the best 4 conf winners of these 5? Prior to todays games, why was Boise State in the top 4? Is this because they are ranked higher the the Big 12 leader? Does the 5th best conference winner end up wherever their ranking is (not the 5th slot for the 5th best conference winner?). I guess after the top 4 conf winners are selected, it’s anything goes (or straight rankings) for 5-12 brackets? The best ND can ever do is 5th?

Yes - all of this is correct.

 

[deezvols]

Rankings don’t take into account who will win their conference. Once the conference champs are given their top 4 slots, they go down the list filling the rest.

 

[vol94]

Reading the official rules of the playoff again and I’m confused. Isn’t it supposed to be the SEC, Big 10, Big 12, ACC and best group of 5 team? Do they select the best 4 conf winners of these 5? Prior to todays games, why was Boise State in the top 4? Is this because they are ranked higher the the Big 12 leader? Does the 5th best conference winner end up wherever their ranking is (not the 5th slot for the 5th best conference winner?). I guess after the top 4 conf winners are selected, it’s anything goes (or straight rankings) for 5-12 brackets? The best ND can ever do is 5th?

Correct. Highest ranked conference champs. And it doesn’t matter if the highest ranked conference champ isn’t from power four conference, hence Boise State.

 

[D-Vols]

College Football Playoff bracket, schedule, rankings, seeds

Here's the official 2025-26 College Football Playoff bracket, as announced during the selection show on Sunday, Dec. 7. It's a 12-team bracket, with games starting Friday, Dec. 19.

www.ncaa.com

everything should be cleared up by December 11 and we will know. But everyone can speculate all they want to until then but that’s all it will be speculation.

 

[Vols1891]

So is it correct that ND can never be in the top 4?

 

[tennesseeduke]

Reading the official rules of the playoff again and I’m confused. Isn’t it supposed to be the SEC, Big 10, Big 12, ACC and best group of 5 team? Do they select the best 4 conf winners of these 5? Prior to todays games, why was Boise State in the top 4? Is this because they are ranked higher the the Big 12 leader? Does the 5th best conference winner end up wherever their ranking is (not the 5th slot for the 5th best conference winner?). I guess after the top 4 conf winners are selected, it’s anything goes (or straight rankings) for 5-12 brackets? The best ND can ever do is 5th?

Highest 4 ranked conference champions includes group of 5. Yrs best ND can do is 5

 

[Boston Vol]

So is it correct that ND can never be in the top 4?

Yes

 

[tennesseeduke]

So is it correct that ND can never be in the top 4?

At the moment

 

[NATHAN05]

Highest 4 ranked conference champions includes group of 5. Yrs best ND can do is 5

Which sucks this year for us, because that 5th spot is a nice looking spot (on paper) to get to the semis.

 

[Illinoisvolfan2]

So is it correct that ND can never be in the top 4?

Yes. And they won’t be punished for their joke schedule either or that embarrassing loss to Northern Illinois

 

[tennesseeduke]

Which sucks this year for us, because that 5th spot is a nice looking spot (on paper) to get to the semis.

That spot is reserved for ND until they join a league

 

[SpaceCoastVol]

That spot is reserved for ND until they join a league

Sad, but true. They shouldn't be in it at all.

 

[tennesseeduke]

Sad, but true. They shouldn't be in it at all.

Yes it’s BS but when their president was on the 12 team playoff committee, you knew it was in play. ND gets shot 5 if their record isn’t crap.

 

[tennesseeduke]

You’ve got to love that Clemson gets beat yet still has a shot at the playoffs and a first round bye. They are 9-3 with 2 losses to SEC! WTH??

 

[VFL-82-JP]

There are nine conferences in the FBS: the Power 4* (SEC, B10, B12, and ACC) and the Group of 5 (American (AAC), Conference USA (CUSA), Mid-American Conference (MAC,), Mountain West (MtnW), and Sun Belt (Sun)).

Now the key to understanding playoff seeding is this: the CFP rules treat all nine of those conferences EXACTLY the same. There is no upper tier P4 and lower tier G5. There are just the nine conferences.

I'm not saying the CFP Committee treats them all the same when they rank-order teams each week; they don't, no more than the AP and Coaches Poll. We all understand where the powerful teams are, and they usually get ranked accordingly.

But the CFP rules treat them all identically. Like this:

The four highest-ranking conference champions (from any of the nine) get into the playoffs, AND get a first-round bye. They are seeded 1 through 4.

The fifth highest-ranking conference champ is guaranteed a spot in the playoffs, but no special seeding. If he's ranked below #12, he'll get the #12 seed. Otherwise, he is seeded where he is ranked.

~ ~ ~

And that's it. No special treatment for Power 4 conference champs over G5 champs. If the five highest-ranking conference champs are teams from the AAC, CUSA, MAC, MtnW, and SunBelt, those are the conference champs guaranteed spots in the playoff.

That'll never happen because they'll never all be ranked that high, but the rules would allow it if they did.

Simple.

Go Vols!


* was Power 5 before the PAC shrunk too small to qualify as a conference.

 

[DaddyChad]

College Football Playoff bracket, schedule, rankings, seeds

Here's the official 2025-26 College Football Playoff bracket, as announced during the selection show on Sunday, Dec. 7. It's a 12-team bracket, with games starting Friday, Dec. 19.

www.ncaa.com

everything should be cleared up by December 11 and we will know. But everyone can speculate all they want to until then but that’s all it will be speculation.

It’s not speculation on the first four spots. It’s written in the format. People are just too damn dumb to comprehend it apparently. Four highest ranked conference champs get the byes. Fifth ranked conference champ gets in but no bye. Bye slots are given by rankings.

It breaks down like this. SEC champs, big Ten champs, Boise St get byes, SMU gets a bye if they win, if not the big twelve champ gets the last bye.

The first four is about all we know about how the seeding will break down bc there are rules on record that cover those spots. The other spots the committee can do whatever they want basically

 

[volfan102455]

So is it correct that ND can never be in the top 4?

My opinion is that all teams should be required to join a conference or be excluded from the playoffs.

If you are going to include them, then just rank the teams after all the games are complete and let that be the top 12 - no automatic conference bids - every game is for positioning in the top 12, which was how the prior process worked.

 

[Volizona]

There are nine conferences in the FBS, the Power 4 (was Power 5 before the PAC shrunk too small to qualify as a conference)--the SEC, B10, B12, and ACC--and the Group of 5-- American (AAC), Conference USA (CUSA), Mid-American Conference (MAC,), Mountain West (MtnW), and Sun Belt (Sun).

Now here's the key to understanding playoff seeding: the CFP rules treat all nine of those conferences EXACTLY the same. There is no upper tier P4 and lower tier G5. There are just the nine conferences.

I'm not saying the CFP Committee treats them all the same when they rank-order teams each week; they don't, no more than the AP and Coaches Poll. We all understand where the powerful teams are, and they usually get ranked accordingly.

But the CFP rules treat them all identically. Like this:

The four highest-ranking conference champions get into the playoffs, AND get a first-round bye, regardless of where they're ranked. They are seeded 1 through 4, again based on their CFP Committee rankings.

The fifth highest-ranking conference champ is guaranteed into the playoffs. But gets NO guaranteed seeding. If he's ranked among the top 12, he'll get that spot. If he's below #12, he'll get the #12 seed.

~ ~ ~

And that's it. No special treatment for Power 4 conference champs over G5 champs. If the five highest-ranking conference champs were teams from the AAC, CUSA, MAC, MtnW, and SunBelt, those would be the conference champs who were guaranteed spots in the playoff.

That'll never happen because they'll never all be ranked that high, but the rules would allow it if they did.

Simple.

Go Vols!

I thought the rules state that the best (only one) G5 conf winner gets in. In other words ONLY the highest rated G5 gets one of the 5 conference spots. They won’t select multiple G5 conf winners, only one

 

[WillisWG]

I thought the rules state that the best (only one) G5 conf winner gets in. In other words ONLY the highest rated G5 gets one of the 5 conference spots. They won’t select multiple G5 conf winners, only one

The four highest-ranked conference champions will be seeded 1, 2, 3 and 4 and will receive byes in the first round. The remaining eight teams, including the fifth conference champion, will be seeded 5 through 12 based on their final ranking. If the fifth conference champion is not ranked among the top 12 teams, it will be seeded at No. 12.

 

[Boston Vol]

I thought the rules state that the best (only one) G5 conf winner gets in. In other words ONLY the highest rated G5 gets one of the 5 conference spots. They won’t select multiple G5 conf winners, only one

No, the committee can take as many G5 conference champs as they want, the only thing that is required is that the highest ranked G5 champ is in the field regardless of where they’re ranked. So say a P4 champ has 3 losses, the committee can take a second G5 champ over them.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

I thought the rules state that the best (only one) G5 conf winner gets in. In other words ONLY the highest rated G5 gets one of the 5 conference spots. They won’t select multiple G5 conf winners, only one

Nope. That's not what the rules say.

 

[Volizona]

No, the committee can take as many G5 conference champs as they want, the only thing that is required is that the highest ranked G5 champ is in the field regardless of where they’re ranked. So say a P4 champ has 3 losses, the committee can take a second G5 champ over them.

Didn’t realize that. I guess the odds of two (or more) G5s being ranked higher than one ( or more) of the P4s is very low though.

 

[Volizona]

Nope. That's not what the rules say.

Got it. But getting more that one G5 in the final 4 is always going to be a long shot. Next in line after Boise/UNLV would be Army/Memphis way down at 24/25 so it won’t happen this year.