Understanding College Football Playoff Seeding and Selection Process

The College Football Playoff (CFP) has really shaken up college football. Teams now have a whole new way to chase the national championship.

With the CFP, fans get a postseason tournament that’s honestly pretty exciting. It all ends with the crowning of a national champion.

This article breaks down how the CFP works—how teams get picked, how the tournament is set up, and some recent results. If you want to dig even deeper, check out the College Football Playoff Explained page on Ticketmaster’s blog.

The Selection Process

Getting to the College Football Playoff National Championship starts with picking the top 12 teams. That job falls to the CFP Selection Committee, a group of 13 people—coaches, former players, athletic directors, college administrators, and journalists.

They’re appointed by the CFP Management Committee, which includes 10 FBS conference commissioners and Notre Dame’s athletic director. It’s a mix of perspectives, for sure.

Committee Composition and Responsibilities

This committee ranks the top 25 teams in the country, updating the list six or seven times each season. The final rankings, which lock in the 12 playoff teams, come out on Selection Day in early December.

Committee members usually serve one three-year term. They’re expected to use both their experience and all the stats and metrics at their disposal.

Ranking Methodology

Ranking football teams isn’t exactly an exact science. The committee uses a blend of know-how and data to come up with their rankings.

Some of the metrics they look at:

• Strength of schedule
• Win-loss records
• Conference championships won
• Opponents’ record
• Head-to-head results against common opponents
• Video review
• Statistics
• Player injuries and availability

Weekly Meetings and Voting Process

Midway through the regular season, the committee starts meeting every week to put out a new top 25. Each meeting involves a pretty detailed voting process—seven rounds, secret ballots, and lots of debate.

Here’s a rough idea of how it goes:

• Initial Pool: Each member lists 30 teams. If at least three members list a team, it moves on to the next round.
• Listing Step: Each member picks their top six from that pool.
• Ranking Pool: The six teams with the most votes get ranked next. Each new round adds some new teams and keeps some from before.
• Ranking Step: Members rank those six teams. The four with the lowest points get ranked first through fourth in the CFP poll.
• Next Round Begins: This keeps going until all 25 spots are filled.

Recusal and Ethics

If a committee member has a direct or family tie to a team being discussed, they have to sit out those votes. That includes getting paid by the school or having played or coached there.

Determining the Bracket

The committee’s final seed list sets the 12-team tournament bracket. It includes the six highest-ranked conference champs and the six highest-ranked teams that didn’t win their conference.

Starting in 2025, the top four teams get a bye. The other eight play for the last four quarterfinal spots. Then it’s quarterfinals, semifinals, and finally the championship game.

The New Year’s Six Bowl Games

The CFP quarterfinals and semifinals rotate every year among the New Year’s Six (NY6) bowl games. They’re called that because of their traditional holiday dates.

Here are the big six:

• Peach Bowl in Atlanta
• Fiesta Bowl in Phoenix
• Orange Bowl in Miami
• Cotton Bowl in Dallas
• Rose Bowl in Pasadena
• Sugar Bowl in New Orleans

2025 Semifinal Games

The 2025 semifinals will be at the Fiesta Bowl (State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona) and the Peach Bowl (Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta). These games used to be right around New Year’s, but now the schedule stretches into mid-January with the expanded playoff.

Recent Results

The 2024-2025 season has already had its share of wild games. In the first round, we saw:

• No. 9 Alabama 34, No. 8 Oklahoma 24
• No. 10 Miami 10, No. 7 Texas A&M 3
• No. 6 Ole Miss 41, No. 11 Tulane 10
• No. 5 Oregon 51, No. 12 James Madison 34

The quarterfinals brought even more surprises:

• No. 10 Miami 24, No. 2 Ohio State 14 (Cotton Bowl)
• No. 5 Oregon 23, No. 4 Texas Tech 0 (Orange Bowl)
• No. 1 Indiana 38, No. 9 Alabama 3 (Rose Bowl)
• No. 6 Ole Miss 39, No. 3 Georgia 34 (Sugar Bowl)

Upcoming Semifinals and Championship

The semifinals are set:

• No. 6 Ole Miss vs. No. 10 Miami – Fiesta Bowl
• No. 1 Indiana vs. No. 5 Oregon – Peach Bowl

Winners will move on to the National Championship game, which is set for January 19 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. Should be a good one.

Historical Champions

Since the CFP kicked off in 2014, only six teams have managed to snag the National Championship.

• Ohio State (2024, 2014)
• Michigan (2023)
• Georgia (2022, 2021)
• Alabama (2020, 2017, 2015)
• LSU (2019)
• Clemson (2018, 2016)

If you’re itching to see the action up close, National Championship tickets are up for grabs at Ticketmaster, which is the Official Ticket Marketplace of the College Football Playoff National Championship.

There are also tickets for upcoming NCAA College Football games and bowl games on Ticketmaster’s site, if you’re curious.