How CFP update benefits Notre Dame the most, plus loads of top 25s

New York Times

24-05-2025

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Today in college football news, I have been handed another novelty can of Pringles: Miller Lite Beer Can Chicken flavor. Of course I'm gonna eat all of them, but I would have never guessed they're supposed to remind me of beer can chicken.
Know how people like to complain about Notre Dame?
Wait, I need to be much more specific. Know how people like to complain about Notre Dame still being an independent, decades after every other power decided to join one faction or another?
Most recently, Notre Dame's independence become even more important when the new 12-team College Football Playoff began awarding first-round byes only to conference champions. Finally, a way to punish the Irish for their stubborn ways! What a grand comeuppance this will be, when those arrogant independents roll up with a No. 1 seed, then have to play in the first round agai—
Oh. There goes that idea.
After exactly one year of that format, Notre Dame is now eligible for first-round byes. This week, the CFP management committee announced the bracket will now be sorted strictly by rankings.
South Bend, you owe a big thank you to Arizona State and especially Boise State for ranking among last season's top four conference champs — and thus claiming byes that would've otherwise gone to Texas and Penn State.
Sure, this is mostly about making sure we don't have another scenario like last year, when No. 1 Oregon drew an instant rematch against a molten-hot Ohio State — while two-loss Penn State enjoyed being a big favorite until the semifinals. But after college football spent decades keeping teams like Boise out of the title picture, once the Broncos were a team that landed on a perch, this system felt even more immediately doomed.
Either way, here's one way to look at the situation: The power conferences so hated giving up a couple spots to semi-randos that they decided to give up even more spots to Notre Dame. After all, who's going to swipe one of these bids more frequently: the Irish, or teams like Boise State? Notre Dame would've claimed byes in 2012, 2018 and 2020 and been one spot away in 2021 and 2024. One of the country's most bankable bye-claimers, actually.
Overall, there are pros and cons about this updated CFP.
💎 Probably my favorite college sports read of the week: Lindsay Schnell on how college softball became a sport all about smashing lots of crowd-pleasing dingers. In hindsight, the biggest spike in offense was due to … the color of the ball. But there's still a lot more to it than just that.
👍 To absolutely zero surprise: 'Plans for a presidential commission exploring issues in college sports have been paused, a source familiar with the plans confirmed to The Athletic on Thursday.'
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🏈 'A Salt Lake City woman has accused BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff of sexual assault and battery, according to a civil lawsuit filed Wednesday.' News details here.
✈️ Nashville tourism is a major thing, but does any visitor ever think, 'I can't wait to go from one country bar to the Vanderbilt game to another country bar'? Luring explorers has long been Vandy's dream, but now the effort includes lessons taken from England's Premier League, of all places.
🎭 This week in 'Survivor: UNC':
As noted on Tuesday, this week, The Athletic's college football staff paid tribute to the first quarter century of the 2000s by utilizing CFB's most honored number. I've already linked to a couple of these top-25 lists, but here are all five in one spot:
And finally, circling back to this one: yet another Mandel top 25, this time an updated list of 2025 teams, with spring and portal stuff in the books.
The top five, now that we've also all had much more time to study these teams than we'd had back in January, when Stewart posted his first top 25 of the year:
The biggest gainer: No. 14 Oklahoma, up from No. 25. The Sooners recently added RB Jaydn Ott (Cal) and OG Jake Maikkula (Cal's ACC archrival, Stanford) to their totally overhauled offense. Also making a big jump is No. 19 Texas Tech, which has probably signed like 38 more players since I started writing this newsletter.
Biggest tumble, all the way out of the list: No. 13 Tennessee. I still feel OK about the Vols despite all that portal turbulence. In post-spring SP+ rankings, they're No. 13.
Stewart's updated top 25 is here, with explanations for each team included. And that's a wrap for this week. Holler at me: [e-mail].
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