College Football Playoff

MISSION

The committee’s task will be to select the best teams, rank the teams for inclusion in the playoff, and then assign the teams to the playoff bracket.

PRINCIPLES

The committee will select the teams using a process that distinguishes among otherwise comparable teams by considering:

• Strength of schedule,
• Head-to-head competition,
• Comparative outcomes of common opponents (without incenting margin of victory), and,
• Other relevant factors such as unavailability of key players and coaches that may have affected a team’s performance during the season or likely will affect its postseason performance.

VOTING PROCESS

The voting process will include seven rounds of ballots through which the committee members will first select a small pool of six teams to be evaluated, then will rank those teams, with the teams being placed in the rankings in groups of four for four rounds, then three for the final three rounds. The rounds will address the following:

• Round One: Focus on ranking the top four teams, who will receive first-round byes.


• Round Two: Focus on ranking teams five through eight, who will host home games.


• Round Three: Focus on ranking teams nine through 12, who will become the four visiting teams in the Playoff.


• Round Four: Focus on ranking teams 13 through 16, who will become the final teams outside the Playoff.


• Round Five and Six: Focus on ranking teams 17–19 and 20–22.


• Round Seven: Focus on ranking teams 23–25, who will become the final three teams in the rankings.

Individual committee members’ rankings will be compiled into a composite ranking for each round. Each committee member will independently evaluate an immense amount of information during the process. This evaluation will lead to individual qualitative and quantitative opinions that will inform each member’s vote.

NUMBER OF TEAMS TO BE RANKED

The committee will rank 25 teams. The conference champions from the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten Conference, Big 12 Conference and Southeastern Conference, and the highest-ranked team from the American, Conference USA, Mid-American Conference, Mountain West, Pac-12 Conference and Sun Belt Conference, along with the next seven highest-ranked teams, will be in the playoff. The University of Notre Dame will be included in the playoff if it is ranked among the top 12 teams in the final rankings.

RANKING OF UNRANKED AUTOMATIC QUALIFIERS

If no team from the American, Conference USA, Mid-American Conference, Mountain West, Pac-12 Conference or Sun Belt Conference is ranked in the top 25, the committee will identify the highest-ranked team from those conferences for selection as an automatic qualifier.

Similarly, if any other automatic qualifier is not ranked in the top 25, the committee will evaluate the team(s) using its established selection criteria and determine their relative positions for seeding purposes.

If more than one automatic qualifier is not ranked in the top 25, the committee will determine their seeding order within the 12-team field. Any such team(s) will be placed at the bottom of the 12-team seeding in rank order.

MEETING SCHEDULE

The committee will meet in person weekly beginning generally at mid-season to produce interim rankings before selection weekend.

The dates for the fall of 2026 are as follows:

• Monday and Tuesday, November 2-3
• Monday and Tuesday, November 9-10
• Monday and Tuesday, November 16-17
• Monday and Tuesday, November 23-24
• Monday and Tuesday, November 30 and December 1
• Friday through Sunday, December 4-6

POINT PERSONS FOR GATHERING INFORMATION

The committee has assigned two members to be the “point persons” to gather material about the teams in each conference and the independent teams. The process will ensure that the committee fully reviews each team and that no information is overlooked.

The point persons will ensure that (1) the committee has complete, detailed information about each team, and (2) the conferences and independent institutions have an effective and efficient channel for providing facts to the committee.

The committee wishes to be clear about the role of the point persons. They are not and will not be advocates for teams in any conference or for any independent institution. They will not speak on behalf of any conference or institution during the committee’s deliberations or represent any conference’s or independent institution’s interests during those deliberations. Their function is to gather information and ensure that it is available to the committee. Their role as a liaison to a particular conference or independent institution is purely for the purpose of objective fact-gathering.

The point persons will communicate with conference staff members on three information-gathering video conferences during the regular season: one before the first ranking, one before the fourth ranking and one the week before Selection Day. Outside of these video conferences, there will be no contact between the point persons and any conference staff member, or vice-versa, but the conference may relay information to the committee through the CFP staff.

Following were the point persons for the 2025 season:

METRICS

There will not be one single metric to assist the committee. Rather, the committee will consider a wide variety of data and information.

PARTICIPANTS

There shall be no limit on the number of teams that may participate in the CFP from one conference.

PAIRINGS

1. The four highest-ranked teams will be seeded 1, 2, 3 and 4 and will receive byes in the first round. The remaining teams will be seeded based on their final ranking, including the conference champions from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC, and the highest-ranked team from the American, CUSA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac-12 and Sun Belt. If any of those teams are not ranked among the top 12, they will be seeded at the bottom of the 12 in rank order.



2. Teams seeded 5, 6, 7 and 8 will host first-round games against teams seeded 12, 11, 10 and 9, respectively.



3. In the quarterfinals, the team seeded No. 1 will meet the winner of the game between seeds 8 and 9. No. 2 will meet the 7 vs. 10 winner; No. 3 will meet the 6 vs. 11 winner; No. 4 will meet the 5 vs. 12 winner.



4. In the semifinals, the winner of the game between No. 1 vs. 8/9 will meet the winner of No. 4 vs. 5/12. The winner of the game between No. 2 vs. 7/10 will meet the winner of No. 3 vs. 6/11.

GAMES PLAYED AFTER SELECTION DAY

The selection committee will establish the final rankings on selection day; as a result, the committee will not consider the results of games played after selection day.

SELECTION SEQUENCE

The committee will adhere to the following sequence:

• Rank the teams 1‐25.
• Teams ranked Nos. 1 through 4 will be seeded accordingly and receive first-round byes.
• Seed the remainder of the field.
• The No. 1 seed will select its quarterfinal bowl site and the semifinal site into which it will advance should it win its quarterfinal game.
• The No. 2 seed, followed by the No. 3 seed, will then select from the remaining quarterfinal bowl sites. Those two teams will feed into the remaining semifinal. The No. 4 seed will be assigned to the remaining quarterfinal bowl site.
• Place Seed Nos. 5 through 12 in the bracket per the policies herein.
• There will be no reseeding after any round of the CFP.

RECUSAL POLICY

If a committee member or an immediate family member (e.g., spouse, sibling or child) (a) is compensated by a school, (b) provides professional services for a school or (c) is on the coaching staff or administrative staff at a school or is a football student-athlete at a school, that member will be recused. Such compensation shall include not only direct employment, but also current paid consulting arrangements, deferred compensation (e.g., contract payments continuing after employment has ended) or other benefits.

A member shall be deemed fully recused from the evaluation of a team if the member: (a) receives direct compensation from the institution in question; or (b) has an immediate family member who is a football student-athlete, football staff member, or senior administrator at the institution. A fully recused member shall not participate in any vote concerning the team, nor shall the member be present during any deliberations related to the team’s ranking or placement into the postseason bracket.

A member shall be deemed partially recused if the member has a secondary relationship with the institution (e.g., an immediate family member employed by the institution but outside of the football program or senior administration). A partially recused member may remain present and participate in discussions related to the team, but shall not be allowed to participate in votes involving the team in question.

The executive director shall have the authority to impose a partial recusal if he or she determines that a non-compensated institutional affiliation (e.g., alumna/alumnus, former player, former administrator or former coach) exists that could reasonably be perceived to compromise the impartiality of the committee member in question.

Following were the recusals for the 2025 season (full recusal unless otherwise specified):

TERMS

Members shall serve three-year terms. Members will not be eligible for reappointment, but a member’s term may be extended by one year (1) if the member would serve as chair in what otherwise would be his/her final year or (2) if other circumstances warrant. Further, a member appointed to serve an unexpired term may be appointed to serve a full three years. Notwithstanding the foregoing, selection committee alumni are eligible to return for one-year terms on a gap-filling basis where a member is unable to fulfill their full term or must take a leave of absence, as provided in the Selection Committee Membership Standards and Appointment Framework.

COMMITTEE CHAIR

The management committee selects the chair of the committee.