What 24-team expanded College Football Playoff would look like now and in 2025

What 24-team expanded College Football Playoff would look like now and in 2025 originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Another massive change is coming to college football.

With Thursday's news that a 24-team College Football Playoff is expected to be implemented for the 2027 season, it will mark the end of the 12-team era, which has already been a significant step-up from what was once a four-team field.

The logistics of a 24-team playoff appear to be a work in progress. Conference championships are likely to be eliminated, while ESPN reported that discussions have centered around the 24-team field consisting of 19 at-large bids, plus the Power 4 conference champions "as determined by each league" and the highest-ranked Group of 6 team getting automatic bids. Seeds No. 1-8 would get a first-round bye, while seeds No. 9-16 would host a first-round game.

Assuming that format sticks, it will drastically change the end of each college football season; had the 24-team field been in place last season, things would have looked very different.

Here's a look at how a potential 24-team field format would have impacted last year's CFP and this year's race so far.

MORE: How will a potential 24-team CFP work?

How 24-team CFP would have looked in 2025

Considering conference championships will likely be eliminated, to judge how a 24-team field would have looked in 2025, using the CFP Rankings from Week 15 — the week before conference title weekend — likely works best, assessing teams only on their regular season.

Because all of the projected Power 4 conference champions

Based on the Week 15 CFP Rankings last year, here's how a 24-team field would have looked:

First-Round Byes:

• No. 1 Ohio State
• No. 2 Indiana
• No. 3 Georgia
• No. 4 Texas Tech
• No. 5 Oregon
• No. 6 Ole Miss
• No. 7 Texas A&M
• No. 8 Oklahoma

First-Round Matchups:

• No. 17 Virginia vs. No. 16 USC (winner faces No. 1 Ohio State)
• No. 24 North Texas vs. No. 9 Alabama (winner faces No. 8 Oklahoma)
• No. 20 Tulane vs. No. 13 Texas (winner faces No. 4 Texas Tech)
• No. 21 Houston vs. No. 12 Miami (winner faces No. 5 Oregon)
• No. 18 Arizona vs. No. 15 Utah (winner faces No. 2 Indiana)
• No. 23 Iowa vs. No. 10 Notre Dame (winner faces No. 7 Texas A&M)
• No. 19 Michigan vs. No. 14 Vanderbilt (winner faces No. 3 Georgia)
• No. 22 Georgia Tech vs. No. 11 BYU (winner faces No. 6 Ole Miss)

For four teams — Oregon, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Oklahoma — it would have meant a first-round bye, rather than playing in a first-round game. Meanwhile, teams like Notre Dame, BYU, Texas and Vanderbilt wouldn't have narrowly missed out on the CFP, and schools like Michigan, Georgia Tech and Iowa would have gotten a chance to make some noise.

The eventual national champion, Indiana, would have faced either Arizona or Utah on its path to the title.

MORE:Projecting the College Football Playoff bracket after Week 6

How 24-team CFP would look now

A lot can still change this season, but through Week 7, it is clear which teams are emerging from the pack as playoff contenders.

The first CFP rankings won't be released until November, so for now, there's no official way to judge how a field would look. But by creating a hypothetical bracket using the Week 7 AP Poll, teams like SMU, LSU, Boise State and more would all get to play in a playoff game.

Here's how a potential 24-team bracket would look for this season so far:

First-Round Byes:

• No. 1 Georgia
• No. 2 Notre Dame
• No. 3 Miami
• No. 4 Ohio State
• No. 5 Indiana
• No. 6 Alabama
• No. 7 Texas
• No. 8 BYU

First-Round Matchups:

• No. 17 Iowa vs. No. 16 Mississippi State (winner faces No. 1 Georgia)
• No. 24 SMU vs. No. 9 Ole Miss (winner faces No. 8 BYU)
• No. 20 Houston vs. No. 13 Missouri (winner faces No. 4 Ohio State)
• No. 21 Wake Forest vs. No. 12 UCLA (winner faces No. 5 Indiana)
• No. 18 Oklahoma State vs. No. 15 Kentucky (winner faces No. 2 Notre Dame)
• No. 23 Boise State vs. No. 10 Texas Tech (winner faces No. 7 Texas)
• No. 19 USC vs. No. 14 Tennessee (winner faces No. 3 Miami)
• No. 22 LSU vs. No. 11 Utah (winner faces No. 6 Alabama)

Despite two losses already, LSU would still be in the field, while squads like SMU, Wake Forest and Houston would be granted an opportunity to pull off an upset on a big stage.

Northwestern, ranked 25th, would be the odd team out of the AP Poll rankings.

24-team College Football Playoff bracket based on the Week 7 AP Top 25 Poll👀 https://t.co/YkCe3k4JAc https://t.co/JaE8IpKaFI

— On3 (@On3) October 15, 2026

MORE COLLEGE FOOTBALL:

• Inside Drew Mestemaker's rise to potential first-round pick
• Week 7 picks against the spread for Top 25 games
• The Sporting News' latest 2027 NFL Mock Draft
• Early big board of top 100 NFL Draft prospects for 2027