The battle for College Football Playoff berths is heating up.
The second CFP rankings of the 2025-26 season will be released Tuesday night. They’ll come less than a month before the 12-team playoff is unveiled on Selection Sunday.
The first rankings were led by the defending champion Ohio State Buckeyes, with the Indiana Hoosiers, Texas A&M Aggies, Alabama Crimson Tide and Georgia Bulldogs rounding out the top five.
The Buckeyes last season secured a historic national title, winning the first-ever 12-team CFP. As the No. 8 seed, Ohio State took down No. 9 Tennessee at home, No. 1 Oregon in the Rose Bowl and No. 5 Texas in the Cotton Bowl before defeating No. 7 Notre Dame in the championship game.
The national championship triumph came a decade after Ohio State won the inaugural CFP. And now, the Buckeyes are looking to become just the second team in the CFP era to repeat as champs.
So, as the college football postseason nears, here’s what to know about this year’s CFP:
How many teams make the College Football Playoff?
The playoff will once again feature 12 teams.
What is the College Football Playoff format?
The format won’t look exactly the same as last year, though.
First, the CFP selection committee will award bids to the five highest-ranked conference champions and the seven highest-ranked non-conference champs. But, unlike last year, the teams will then be seeded No. 1 to No. 12 based on the committee’s rankings and regardless of conference champion status. The top four seeds, which come with a first-round bye, went to the highest-ranked conference champions in last season’s playoff.
The first-round matchups are No. 5 vs. No. 12, No. 6 vs. No. 11, No. 7 vs. No. 10, and No. 8 vs. No. 9, with the higher seed having home-field advantage.
Does the College Football Playoff reseed teams?
The CFP follows a bracket format and does not reseed teams after the first round.
The quarterfinals feature the introduction of bowl games to the playoff. The top four teams are assigned to bowls by the CFP committee, with consideration first given to historic bowl relationships followed by rankings.
“For example, if the Sugar Bowl hosts a Playoff Quarterfinal and an SEC school is ranked No. 1 and a Big 12 schools is ranked No. 3, the SEC school would be assigned to the Sugar Bowl and the Big 12 school would be assigned elsewhere,” the CFP website says.
What bowl games are part of the College Football Playoff?
Here’s a breakdown of this year’s bowl games by round:
Quarterfinals
- Cotton Bowl — AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas
- Orange Bowl — Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida
- Rose Bowl — Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California
- Sugar Bowl — Caesars Superdome in New Orleans
Semifinals
- Fiesta Bowl — State Farm Stadium in Glendale Arizona
- Peach Bowl — Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta
What are the College Football Playoff rankings?
Here’s how the first rankings, which were released on Nov. 4, looked:
- Ohio State
- Indiana
- Texas A&M
- Alabama
- Georgia
- Ole Miss
- BYU
- Texas Tech
- Oregon
- Notre Dame
- Texas
- Oklahoma
- Utah
- Virginia
- Louisville
- Vanderbilt
- Georgia Tech
- Miami
- USC
- Iowa
- Michigan
- Missouri
- Washington
- Pittsburgh
- Tennessee
When is the next College Football Playoff rankings release?
Here’s the upcoming College Football Playoff rankings release schedule:
- Nov. 11, 7 p.m. ET
- Nov. 18, 8:30 p.m. ET
- Nov. 25, 7 p.m. ET
- Dec. 2, 7 p.m. ET
When is College Football Playoff Selection Sunday?
The 12-team CFP field will be unveiled on Sunday, Dec. 7, at 12 p.m. ET.
When does the College Football Playoff start?
The opening CFP game is scheduled for Friday, Dec. 19.
What are the College Football Playoff dates, schedule?
Here’s a round-by-round breakdown of the CFP schedule leading up to the national championship:
First round
- Game 1: Friday, Dec. 19, 8 p.m. ET
- Game 2: Saturday, Dec. 20, 12 p.m. ET
- Game 3: Saturday, Dec. 20, 3:30 p.m. ET
- Game 4: Saturday, Dec. 20, 7:30 p.m. ET
Quarterfinals
- Cotton Bowl: Wednesday, Dec. 31, 7:30 p.m. ET
- Orange Bowl: Thursday, Jan. 1, 12 p.m. ET
- Rose Bowl: Thursday, Jan. 1, 4 p.m. ET
- Sugar Bowl: Thursday, Jan. 1, 8 p.m. ET
Semifinals
- Fiesta Bowl: Thursday, Jan. 8, 7:30 p.m. ET
- Peach Bowl: Friday, Jan. 9, 7:30 p.m. ET
When, where is the 2026 college football national championship game being played?
This season’s national champion will be crowned on Monday, Jan. 19. The national title game is set for 7:30 p.m. ET at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida — the same venue as the quarterfinal Orange Bowl.
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