College Football Playoff Series: Schedule, Rankings, Seeds

College Football Playoff Series: Schedule, Rankings, Seeds

The College Football Playoff is here. The 12-team bracket was announced on Sunday, December 8th. The official 12-team College Football Playoff field and final top 25 rankings were announced on December 8.

Oregon is No. 1, and Georgia, Boise State and Arizona State also receive byes. Below you will find the bracket, final seedings and full playoff schedule.

2024-25 College Football Playoff Series

This table uses the committee’s final top 25 rankings as of Sunday, December 8th. It is important to note that the top 25 ranking does not always correspond to playoff placement, as the top four ranked conference champions receive the top four seeds and byes, regardless of where those four teams rank in the top 25. The fifth-ranked conference champion is also automatically included, although that team does not receive a bye.

You can see how these numbers – the seed and the CFP rankings – differ below. The four teams with byes are in bold:

  1. Oregon – top-ranked conference champion (Big Ten) and No. 1 seed
  2. Georgia — second highest conference champion (SEC) and seed No. 2
  3. Texas – Overall selection (SEC second team), No. 5 seed
  4. Penn State – Overall selection (Big Ten second team), No. 6 seed
  5. Notre Dame – Overall pick (independent), seed No. 7
  6. Ohio State – Overall selection (Big Ten third team), No. 8 seed
  7. Tennessee – Overall selection (SEC third team), No. 9 seed
  8. Indiana – Overall selection (fourth team in the Big Ten), No. 10 seed
  9. Boise State – Third highest conference champion (Mountain West) and seed No. 3
  10. SMU – At-large pick (from ACC), seed No. 11
  11. Alabama – first team from the CFP
  12. Arizona State – fourth highest conference champion (Big 12) and seed No. 4
  13. Miami (Florida) – second team from the CFP
  14. Ole Miss – third team from the CFP
  15. South Carolina – fourth team from the CFP
  16. Clemson – fifth highest ranked conference champion (ACC) and No. 12 seed
  17. BYU – fifth team from the CFP
  18. Iowa State – sixth team from the CFP
  19. Missouri – seventh team from the CFP
  20. Illinois – eighth team from the CFP
  21. Syracuse – ninth team from the CFP
  22. Army – 10th Team from the CFP
  23. Colorado – 11th team from the CFP
  24. UNLV – 12th team from the CFP
  25. Memphis – 13th team from the CFP

Boise State, which won the Mountain West Conference championship and only lost to top-ranked Oregon, is the third-ranked conference champion and thus received a bye to the quarterfinals despite finishing ninth. Even though Arizona State is only ranked #1. 12, the Sun Devils are the fourth-seeded conference champion — ahead of ACC champion Clemson (No. 16) — and have secured the No. 4 seed and the final bye in the first round.

College Football Playoff games and schedule

While the four best-placed conference champions receive the top four seeds and therefore byes, the remaining eight teams in the group meet in the first round. Here are the games played on campus on December 20th or 21st:

Always east

  • First round (December 20-21)
    • Friday, December 20: No. 10 Indiana at No. 7 Notre Dame | 8 p.m. | ABC/ESPN
    • Saturday, December 21st: No. 11 SMU at No. 6 Penn State | 12 p.m. | TNT/MAX
    • Saturday, December 21st: No. 12 Clemson at No. 5 Texas | 4 p.m. | TNT/MAX
    • Saturday, December 21: No. 9 Tennessee at No. 8 Ohio State | 8 p.m. | ABC/ESPN
  • Quarterfinals (December 31st – January 1st)
    • Fiesta archl: No. 3 Boise State vs. No. 6 Penn State/No. 11 SMU winners | 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, December 31st | ABC/ESPN
    • Peach peel: No. 4 Arizona State vs. No. 5 Texas/No. 12 Clemson winners | 1 p.m. Wednesday, January 1st | ABC/ESPN
    • Rose bowl: No. 1 Oregon vs. No. 8 Ohio State/No. 9 Tennessee Winners | 5 p.m. Wednesday, January 1st | ABC/ESPN
    • Sugar bowl: No. 2 Georgia vs. No. 7 Notre Dame/No. 10 Indiana Winners | 8:45 p.m. Wednesday, January 1st | ABC/ESPN
  • Semi-finals (January 9-10)
    • Orange peel: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, January 9th | ESPN
    • Cotton cup: 7:30 p.m. Friday, January 10 | ESPN
  • CFP National Championship
    • 7:30 p.m. Monday, January 20 | ESPN
    • Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia

Once the official starting lineup is announced on Sunday, December 8th, there will be no further seeding.

The four quarterfinal games will not be played on campus. Instead, those four games — scheduled for Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 — will be played in the Fiesta Bowl, Rose Bowl, Peach Bowl and Sugar Bowl. The four highest-ranked conference champions will be assigned one of these bowls, taking into account historical bowl relationships and seeding.

The four quarterfinal winners will then meet in the semifinals on January 9th and 10th in either the Orange Bowl or the Cotton Bowl. If the seedings apply, that means (1) would face (4) and (2) would play (3). The two semifinal winners will then play for the national championship on January 20th at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

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