After the first year of the 12-team playoff in 2024, the College Football Playoff (CFP) administrators decided to alter the format for the upcoming year.
Last season, the conference champion automatic bye format created an unbalanced bracket. Oregon (Big Ten), Boise State (Mountain West), Arizona State (Big 12), and Georgia (SEC) won their conference championship but were bounced in their first games during the quarterfinals.
The administrators saw the flaw in the design and decided to alter it for the upcoming 2025-2026 season.
The committee is dumping automatic byes for conference champions and adopting a straight-seeding format.
Under the new straight-seeding format, the top four teams in the committee's rankings receive a first-round bye and play their first game during the quarterfinals. Last season, the four conference champions were given automatic byes, regardless of where the committee ranked them.
Oregon won the Big Ten and earned the No. 1 seed in the playoff, but it faced No. 8 Ohio State, which somehow received a low seed in the 2024 playoff bracket. Oregon lost, and Ohio State had an easy path to the title game.
How this impacts Iowa Football
Let me start by saying the Hawkeyes will need to make vast improvements on the offensive side of the football for this to matter to them.
If Iowa somehow beats Ohio State, Michigan, Oregon, Penn State, and USC to win the Big Ten, this could benefit them because the committee might not rank them very highly. This would allow them to play a team closer to their level in their first matchup and create a scenario for them to advance.
If they do not win the Big Ten and receive an at-large bid, this system would work even more in their favor because they would not have to face a higher-ranked team and get crushed in the first round.
The new CFP format debuts in 2025, but it could be the first and last time it affects only 12 teams because the 12-team format expires after this season.