College Football Playoff Explained: What You Need to Know

Update (November 9): The article contains the most updated information on the College Football Playoff, including details on expansion in 2027.

College football is back, and soon enough, so will the College Football Playoff. A total of 12 teams will compete for the College Football Playoff National Championship, but how are these teams decided? Find out how the College Football Playoff works below.

How are Teams Selected for the College Football Playoff?

Who Decides the College Football Playoff Rankings?

The College Football Playoff (CFP) rankings are decided by a 13-member selection committee, known as the CFP Selection Committee. Composed of coaches, former players, athletic directors, college administrators and journalists, the committee is responsible for determining the top 12 teams that will make up the CFP. The CFP Selection Committee is also responsible for creating the ranking of the top 25 teams, which is updated and released six times per season. The final rankings that determine who will be in the CFP are announced on Selection Day, December 6, 2026.

Members of the CFP Selection Committee are chosen by the CFP Management Committee. The CFP Management Committee is composed of 10 Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) conference commissioners as well as the Notre Dame athletic director. CFP Selection Committee members typically serve one three-year term.

Is the College Football Playoff Expanding?

While the College Football Playoff’s 12-team format will stay in place for the 2026-27 edition, on Nov. 9 the CFP approved a 24-team bracket starting with the 2027-28 season.

How are Rankings Decided?

According to the CFP Selection Committee Protocol, “Ranking football teams is an art, not a science.” Therefore, the CFP Selection Committee develops their national rankings using a combination of individual expertise and enhanced metrics, including strength of schedule, win-loss records, conference championships won, opponents’ record, head-to-head results against common opponents, video review, statistics and player injuries and availability.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by ESPN College Football (@espncfb)

The Voting Process

Starting in the middle of the NCAAF regular season, all 13 CFP Selection Committee members meet in person each Monday and Tuesday weekly to produce a new top 25 poll. Each meeting consists of a multi-step voting process with seven total rounds of ranking. All votes are conducted by secret ballot and each round is broken up by committee discussion. Once a voting session is complete, an updated CFP ranking is unveiled on Tuesday night. The Selection Committee voting process follows:

1. Initial Pool: Each member compiles a list of 30 teams, in no particular order. Teams listed by three or more members will be under consideration for the overall ranking pool, though more teams can be added later with three or more committee votes.
2. Listing Step: Each member lists the six best teams from the initial pool, in no particular order.
3. Ranking Pool: The six teams with the most votes are grouped into a ranking pool.
   1. In voting rounds two through seven, the ranking pool will consist of the two teams held over from the previous ranking pool and the top four teams from the next listing step.
4. Ranking Step: Members individually rank the teams one through six, with one being the best and receiving 1 point. All ballots are tallied and the four teams with the fewest points become the next four ranked teams.
   1. After 16 teams have been placed, the ranking step only adds three teams per round.
5. Next Round Begins: Repeat from Step 2 until all 25 spots are filled.

Recused CFP Committee Members

A CFP Selection Committee member is fully recused from a team if the member or an immediate family member is paid by the school, provides professional services to it or is on its coaching staff, administrative staff or football roster. Fully recused members can’t vote on that team or be in the room when it’s discussed. Partially recused members have a secondary connection, such as a family member working at the school outside the football program, and can stay in the room without voting. The CFP’s executive director can also partially recuse members with ties as former players, coaches, administrators or alumni.

How Does Seeding Work for the College Football Playoff?

The 2026-27 College Football Playoff seeds its 12-team bracket with five automatic bids and seven at-large spots. The automatic bids go to the SEC, Big 12, Big Ten and ACC champions, as well as the highest-ranked team from the Group of Six conferences: the American, Conference USA, the MAC, the Mountain West, the Pac-12 and the Sun Belt. The Group of Six team does not have to be a conference champion. Notre Dame, which plays football as an independent, qualifies automatically if it finishes in the top 12, leaving six at-large spots.

Seeds are set on Selection Day and follow the committee’s final rankings. The top four teams receive first-round byes whether or not they won their conference, a rule that began in 2025. Any automatic qualifier ranked outside the top 12 is placed at the bottom of the bracket. Seeds 5-12 meet in the first round at the higher seed’s home stadium, followed by the quarterfinals, semifinals and CFP National Championship Game, which takes place at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

Three changes are new for 2026-27. Automatic bids, which previously went to the five highest-ranked conference champions, are now guaranteed for each Power Four champion and one Group of Six team. Notre Dame, which could previously only earn an at-large spot, now qualifies automatically with a top-12 finish. Conference bowl tie-ins have also been removed, so the top three seeds choose their bowl path. Under the new rule, the No. 1 seed picks its quarterfinal bowl and the semifinal it would advance to, the No. 2 seed and No. 3 seed choose from the remaining quarterfinal bowls and the No. 4 seed takes the last one.

What Bowl Games Make Up the College Football Playoff?

The CFP quarterfinal and semifinal games rotate annually among six longstanding bowl games known as the New Year’s Six (a.k.a. “NY6”): the Rose Bowl Game in Pasadena, the Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, the Capital One Orange Bowl in the Miami area, the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic in the Dallas area, the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta and the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl in the Phoenix area. Each season, four host quarterfinals and two host semifinals.

What are the New Year’s Six Bowl Games?

The New Year’s Six bowl games are the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Peach Bowl and Fiesta Bowl. Although all six games were historically held on or around December 31 and January 1, the schedule extended to mid-January when the postseason field expanded to 12 teams in 2024. The New Year’s Six bowl games are now the permanent home of the CFP quarterfinal and semifinal rounds.

2026-27 College Football Playoff Games:

First round

Friday, December 18

• No. 9 at No. 8 @ Higher-Seeded Team’s Home Field, 8:00 p.m. ET

Saturday, December 19

• No. 10 at No. 7 @ Higher-Seeded Team’s Home Field, 12:00 p.m. ET
• No. 11 at No. 6 @ Higher-Seeded Team’s Home Field, 3:30 p.m. ET
• No. 12 at No. 5 @ Higher-Seeded Team’s Home Field, 7:30 p.m. ET

Quarterfinals

Wednesday, December 30

• Vrbo Fiesta Bowl @ State Farm Stadium, 7:30 p.m. ET

Friday, January 1

• Goodyear Cotton Bowl @ AT&T Stadium
• Rose Bowl Game @ Rose Bowl Stadium
• Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl @ Mercedes-Benz Stadium

Semifinals

Thursday, January 14

• Capital One Orange Bowl @ Hard Rock Stadium, 7:30 p.m ET

Friday, January 15

• Allstate Sugar Bowl @ Caesars Superdome, 7:30 p.m. ET

National Championship

Monday, January 25

• Allegiant Stadium @ Las Vegas, Nevada, 7:30 p.m. ET

What are the current College Football Playoff rankings?

Miami holds the No. 1 spot in the first CFP rankings of 2026, released Tuesday, November 3. Here’s the current top 12:

1. Miami (8-1)
2. Georgia (8-1)
3. Utah (9-0)
4. Indiana (8-1)
5. Alabama (7-2)
6. Kentucky (7-2)
7. Texas (7-2)
8. UCLA (9-0)
9. BYU (7-2)
10. Ole Miss (6-3)
11. Notre Dame (8-1)
12. Ohio State (6-3)

The top 12 in the rankings isn’t the same as the projected Playoff field, since conference champions receive automatic bids. The next rankings will be released Tuesday, November 10.

What Teams Have Won the College Football Playoff?

Since the CFP began in the 2014 season, seven teams have won the CFP National Championship: defending champion Indiana (2025), as well as Ohio State (2024, 2014), Michigan (2023), Georgia (2022, 2021), Alabama (2020, 2017, 2015), LSU (2019) and Clemson (2018, 2016).

How Do I Get Tickets for the College Football Playoff?

You can get National Championship tickets at Ticketmaster, the Official Ticket Marketplace of the College Football Playoff National Championship. Find tickets to upcoming NCAA College Football games below, including college bowl game tickets.