College Football Playoff seeding model is changing to reward top teams in rankings
College Football Playoff seeding model is changing to reward top teams in rankings
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US LBM Coaches Poll: Ohio State claims top spot after national title run
See where your team landed in the final US LBM Coaches Poll ranking of the year.
Sports Pulse
The College Football Playoff will convert beginning this coming year to a straight-seeding model that ranks all 12 teams in order of the final playoff rankings of the regular season, the group's management committee announced on Thursday.
The new policy will no longer include an opening-round bye for the four highest-ranked conference champions, though the five top conference winners will still receive automatic playoff bids.
Instead, the four highest-ranked teams regardless of conference championships won will receive that bye into the quarterfinals. In the case that one or more of the five top-ranked conference champions rank outside the top 12 of the final playoff rankings, that team or those teams will move into the top 12 and displace any non-conference winners.
The updated seeding policy comes amid a continued push from several Power Four leagues to widen the tournament field to 14 or 16 teams, with multiple automatic bids given to the best teams in the SEC and the Big Ten.
The management committee is composed of the 10 Bowl Subdivision conference commissioners and Notre Dame athletics director Pete Bevacqua.
'After evaluating the first year of the 12-team Playoff, the CFP Management Committee felt it was in the best interest of the game to make this adjustment,' said playoff executive director Rich Clark. 'This change will continue to allow guaranteed access to the Playoff by rewarding teams for winning their conference championship, but it will also allow us to construct a postseason bracket that recognizes the best performance on the field during the entire regular season.'
The debut of the 12-team playoff saw Boise State from the Group of Five land one of the four byes, displacing ACC winner Clemson. Eventual national champion Ohio State earned an at-large bid, as did runner-up Notre Dame as an FBS independent. They were seeded eighth and seventh, respectively.
All other policies will remain the same from last season, the playoff said. That includes opening-round games between teams ranked between No. 5 and No. 12 being played at the home venue of the higher-ranked team. This year's quarterfinals are to be held in the Cotton Bowl, Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl. The semifinals will be in the Fiesta Bowl and Peach Bowl and the championship game is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 19, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
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