College Football Playoff Picture: Virginia, Memphis In Line for Bids After First CFP Rankings

The era of College Football Playoff expansion continues in 2025.

This season, college football’s national champion will still be decided by a 12-team playoff. But there have been some slight tweaks to the seeding format, allowing any team – including non-champions and conference independents – to claim one of the top four seeds. 

In other words, seeding will be awarded strictly by ranking, with no other factors. 

There are still five automatic bids for the five highest-ranked conference champions, which guarantees at least one G5 program access to the playoff every year. 

As we progress through the season, plenty of bettors will be focused on typical week-to-week NCAA football odds. As a big college football bettor myself, I totally understand that. 

But for those focused on College Football Playoff odds and the state of the new postseason race, here’s a peek at what the playoff field might look like if the season ended today.

Remember – now that we’ve started conference play, top positioning isn’t necessarily about who the top teams are in the polls, but who is at the top of the conference standings. The playoff projection below includes automatic berths for teams currently at the top of their conference standings. 

In a world without major conference divisions, it’s those teams that will have the chance to play for the CFP automatic bids. 

College Football Playoff Picture (Week 11)