The College Football Playoff released the latest enhancements and adjustments to its selection process on Wednesday, Aug. 20. The selection committee met recently after six months of reviewing and tweaking the policies and procedures of selecting the top teams at the end of the regular season.
While conference champions still automatically qualify for the postseason, each of the 12 teams will be seeded based on the selection committee. According to the press release, strength-of-schedule has been made a more significant factor in selecting the best teams in all of college football.
An additional record strength enhanced this metric. Record strength will now magnify the effects of a team's schedule strength. Wins against high-quality opponents will carry more weight whereas wins against lower-quality opponents will not. On the flip side, losses against high-quality opponents will not be penalized as hard while losses to lower-quality teams will.
In selecting the Top 25 teams, an update to the recusal policy was made. Like before, a full recusal will take place. A partial recusal will also occur. This will allow partial members to stay in the room while impartial members discuss the teams and vote. Partial members will not be allowed to vote.
Fully recused members are not be allowed to participate in any vote or be present in any discussion regarding the team. There are eight fully recused committee members this year: Hunter Yurachek (Appalachian State and Arkansas), Mack Rhoades (Baylor), David Sayler (Miami OH), Mark Dantonio (Michigan State), Chris Massaro (Middle Tennessee State), Troy Dannen (Nebraska), Chris Ault (Nevada), and Carla Williams (Virginia).
Partially recused members are Yurachek (SMU), Ault (UCLA), Randall McDaniel (Arkansas State), Jeff Long (Arkansas), Ivan Maisel (Notre Dame and Stanford), Wesley Walls (Ole Miss), and Mike Riley (Oregon State).
New committee members will meet from September to October to familiarize themselves with the voting process and review the first eight weeks of the season.
“All of these modifications will help the selection committee as they rank the top 25 teams,” executive director of the CFP Rich Clark said. “We feel these changes will help construct a postseason bracket that recognizes the best performances and teams on the field during the regular season, and I want to thank our veteran selection committee members and data analytics groups for helping implement these changes.”
Five rankings will be announced starting in November before Selection Day
Six ranking announcements, five not including Selection Day, will be made by the committee starting in November. On Nov. 4 at 8 p.m. ET, the first rankings will be released. The following week on Nov. 11, the ranking will be announced at 7 p.m. ET. On Nov. 18, the announcement will start at 8:30 p.m. ET, then again at 7 p.m. on the final Tuesday of the month on Nov. 25.
Before the final 2025 season rankings are released, the committee will announce its fifth set of rankings on Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. ET. During the final week, any movement in the rankings must be evidence-based and no formal policy was added to this procedure.
Selection Day on Sunday, Dec. 7 will begin at 12 p.m. and end at 3 p.m. ET.