The College Football Playoff is here. The official 12-team College Football Playoff field and final top 25 rankings were announced on December 8th. The semifinals begin Thursday, Jan. 9, with Penn State vs. Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl.

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 rankings do not always correspond to the seedings in the playoffs, as the top four ranked conference champions receive the top four seeds and byes, regardless of where those four teams are in the top 25 standing. The fifth-ranked conference champion is also automatically included, although that team does not receive a bye.

College football playoff schedule, results

Always east

Semifinals

Thursday, January 9th

Friday, January 10th

National Championship

Monday, January 20th

• TBD vs. TBD (Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia) | 7:30 p.m. | ESPN

First round

Friday, December 20th

Saturday December 21st

Quarterfinals

Thursday, January 2nd

Tuesday, December 31st

Wednesday, January 1st

College Football Playoff Rankings, Seeds

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

Here are the final CFP Top 25 rankings, with the teams in the CFP also receiving their seeds at the end.

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.

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.