24-05-2025
New CFP format could help USC, but can Trojans take advantage?
New CFP format could help USC, but can Trojans take advantage? It's time for USC football to re-establish itself as a playoff-contending program, on par with 2022
This week, the College Football Playoff announced a change to its format for 2025. This year, there will be no more automatic byes given to conference champions, and teams will instead simply be seeded 1-12 in order of their playoff ranking.
How will this change affect USC? If the the Trojans are one of the final at-large teams in this year's field, it could help them. Rather than slotting in as the No. 11 or 12 seed, USC could potentially move up a few spots in front of the automatic qualifiers from lesser conferences.
In addition, the new format could help USC in the event that the Trojans make it to the Big Ten Championship Game, but lose. Under last year's format, in that scenario, USC could have been no higher than the No. 5 seed, and ineligible for a first-round bye. In the new format, however, a team that loses its conference title game could still get a bye if it is one of the top four teams in the CFP rankings.
Of course, this will only help the Trojans if they are able to actually make the playoff, something that they have yet to do in its 11 seasons of existence. While the new format could potentially help USC, Lincoln Riley and Company's focus should be on improving upon last season's 7-6 fiasco first and foremost.
