The College Football Playoff has made a major change for how they plan on seeding their field beginning this upcoming season.

According to a report from Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports, the CFP is changing the automatic bye structure and removing the stipulation of being a conference champion to earn a bye, moving to a straight seeding model instead.

After much scrutiny over teams like Boise State and Arizona State earning the first round byes due to the flawed system, the CFP executives surprisingly appeared to hear the criticism and make a change despite there only being one year remaining on the current agreement.

Initial speculation was this model would be moved away from starting in 2026 when the current deal ends and further expansion appears likely, however the change is occurring now instead in what will likely be the final version of the 12-team playoff.

On3 shared a graphic as to what last season’s field would have looked, and it makes significantly more sense:

NEWS: CFP executives are expected to adopt a straight-seeding model for this season’s College Football Playoff, @RossDellenger reports👀

Here’s how last season would’ve looked⬇️https://t.co/a533hB94GU pic.twitter.com/OJ398uEGSK

— On3 (@On3sports) May 22, 2025

Penn State, who got arguably the most desirable seed in the field at No. 5 despite losing in the Big 10 title game to No. 1 seed Oregon, would have been forced to play the winner of Clemson and Notre Dame.

Last year, the Nittany Lions cruised into the semi final with easy victories over SMU and Boise State due to the byes.

Oregon meanwhile got the distinct pleasure of being clobbered by eventual national champion Ohio State.

In all likelihood, the end result would have been the same, however there may have been some more intriguing and exciting matchups than last season’s edition.

What the field looks like roughly six months from now will be fascinating to see, but what appears to be guaranteed is a far more equitable and realistic way the teams in said field are seeded.