How the College Football Playoff automatic qualifiers work, from byes to seeds

The College Football Playoff's expansion from four to 12 teams starting with the 2024 season provided teams with more room to break into the CFP.

There's also new way for teams to secure a spot in the field. That's right — automatic qualifiers are now part of FBS and the College Football Playoff.

Here's a quick look at how the CFP automatic qualifiers work:

• There are five automatic qualifiers — the five conference champions ranked highest by the CFP selection committee get in automatically
• Four of the five AQs get byes — Of these five automatic qualifiers, the four highest-ranked teams get byes into the quarterfinals and are seeded 1 through 4

Here’s a deeper dive into how AQs work:

Explaining the College Football Playoff automatic qualifiers

Unlike college basketball’s NCAA tournament, automatic bids won’t be given to every conference champion for the CFP. For FBS, automatic spots will be given to the five highest-ranked conference champions — no matter the conference. Those five AQs are dependent on how the CFP selection committee ranks conference champions in the top 25.

The four highest-ranked teams in the last CFP top 25 will be seeded one through four no matter where they rank in the final College Football Playoff top 25. For example, the fourth-highest ranked conference champion might be ranked "only" No. 8 in the top 25, but as the fourth-highest conference champ, that team would get the No. 4 seed. Non-conference champions ranked in the top four will be seeded starting at No. 5 and cannot get byes.

Here's a look at every FBS conference. Five of these conference champions will become automatic qualifiers, based on where they rank in the committee's top 25.

• ACC
• American 
• Big Ten
• Big 12
• Conference USA
• MAC
• Mountain West
• Sun Belt 
• SEC

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Does automatic qualification translate to a first-round bye?

Not always.

The four highest-ranked conference champions will receive a first round bye, while the fifth-highest-ranked conference champion will be seeded between five and 12. That seed will depend on the CFP top 25 rankings. In other words, even if the fifth-highest-ranked conference champion is ranked No. 18 in the final CFP top 25 rankings, that team will be the No. 12 seed as that last automatic qualifier.

Also, if the fifth-highest-ranked conference champion snags a higher seed than their opponent, they will host their first round game. All first round games will be played at campus sites at the higher seed: No. 5 vs. No. 12, No. 6 vs. No. 11, No. 7 vs. No. 10 and No. 8 vs. No. 9.

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Who isn’t eligible to be an AQ? 

With a conference title required for an automatic bid, FBS independents are ineligible to be an automatic qualifier.

These teams can still be seeded as high as No. 5, but only conference champions can receive the No. 1 through No. 4 seeds.