Guide · 4 min read
How the College Football Playoff works
The College Football Playoff expanded from four teams to twelve in the 2024 season. For 2026, the field stays at twelve, with changes to how the automatic bids work.
Who gets in
- Four power-conference champions. The champions of the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, and SEC receive automatic bids.
- One Group of Six champion. The highest-ranked champion from the American, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac-12, and Sun Belt receives a bid.
- Notre Dame, which has no conference, receives a bid if it finishes in the top 12 of the final rankings.
- At-large teams fill the rest of the field in ranking order, with no limit on how many come from one conference.
The rankings that decide all of this come from the CFP selection committee, which releases weekly rankings in the second half of the season.
Seeding and byes
The twelve teams are seeded in ranking order. Seeds 1 through 4 earn first-round byes. Seeds 5 through 8 host first-round games on campus against seeds 12 through 9 (5 vs. 12, 6 vs. 11, 7 vs. 10, 8 vs. 9). The winners advance to quarterfinals played at major bowl games, where they meet the top four seeds, followed by the semifinals and the national championship game.
Our projection
Our playoff projection applies these rules to the Power Board’s résumé ranking each week, showing the current field, the hosts, and the first teams out. For the official rules and the committee’s rankings, see CollegeFootballPlayoff.com.