College Football Playoff bracket: Schedule, standings, results

On By Littum

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

Below are the brackets, final seeding and complete playoff schedule.

2024-25 College Football Playoff

This bracket uses the committee’s final top 25 rankings on Sunday, December 8th. It is important to note that the top 25 ranking does not always match the seeding in the playoffs, as the four highest ranked conference champions receive the top four seeds and byes, regardless of where the four teams rank in the top 25. The fifth highest ranked conference champion is also an automatic with, even though that team won’t get a bye.

Here is the College Football Playoff bracket for the 2024-25 college football season.

College Football Playoff schedule, results

All times eastern

Semifinals

Thursday 9 January

Friday, January 10

National Championship

Monday, January 20

  • TBD vs. TBD (Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia) | 19:30 | ESPN

First round

Friday 20 Dec

Saturday 21 December

Quarterfinals

Thursday, January 2

Tuesday 31 Dec

Wednesday, January 1

College Football Playoff rankings, seeds

You can see how those numbers — the seed and the CFP ranking — differ below. The four teams with byes are in bold.

Here are the final CFP top 25 rankings, with teams in the CFP also having their seeds included at the end.

  1. Oregon — highest-ranked conference champion (Big Ten) and the No. 1 seed
  2. Georgia – second-highest ranked conference champion (SEC) and seed no. 2
  3. Texas — at-large pick (second team from SEC), seed no. 5
  4. Penn State — at-large pick (second team in the Big Ten), the No. 6
  5. Notre Dame — at-large (independent), seeded no. 7
  6. Ohio State — at-large pick (third team from Big Ten), seed no. 8
  7. Tennessee — at-large pick (third team from SEC), seed no. 9
  8. Indiana – at-large (fourth team from the Big Ten), the No. 10 seed
  9. Boise State — third-highest ranked conference champion (Mountain West) and the No. 3
  10. SMU — at-large pick (from ACC), seeded no. 11
  11. Alabama — first team out of the CFP
  12. Arizona State – fourth-highest ranked conference champion (Big 12) and the No. 4
  13. Miami (Fla.) — second team out of the common fisheries policy
  14. Ole Miss — third team out of CFP
  15. South Carolina – fourth team out of the Common Fisheries Policy
  16. Clemson — fifth-highest ranked conference champion (ACC) and the No. 12
  17. BYU — fifth team out of the CFP
  18. Iowa State — sixth team out of the CFP
  19. Missouri — seventh team out of the common fisheries policy
  20. Illinois — eighth team out of the common fisheries policy
  21. Syracuse — ninth team out of the CFP
  22. The army — 10. keep out of the common fisheries policy
  23. Colorado — 11th out of the Common Fisheries Policy
  24. UNLV — 12th team out of the common fisheries policy
  25. Memphis — 13th team out of the common fisheries policy

Boise State, which won the Mountain West Conference championship and has lost only to top-ranked Oregon, is the third-highest seeded conference champion and thus received a bye to the quarterfinals despite being ranked No. 9. Although Arizona State is only ranked No. 12, the Sun Devils are the fourth-highest ranked conference champion — above ACC champion Clemson (No. 16) — and achieved it. no. 4 seed and the last first round bye.

There is no reseeding once the official bracket is revealed on Sunday, December 8th.

The four quarter-final matches will not be played on the campus grounds. Instead, those four games — scheduled for Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 — will be played at the Fiesta Bowl, Rose Bowl, Peach Bowl and Sugar Bowl. The four highest-ranked conference champions will be awarded one of these bowls, considering historical bowl conditions as well as seeding.

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

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