Brackets means seeds. And with that comes seeing which combination of seeds will advance to each round of the College Football Playoff.
Since the first season of the CFP in 2014, we've seen different seeds go on runs and win it all. The first year of the 12-team era in 2024 showed how the possibilities became even greater — Ohio State lost to rival Michigan in the regular-season finale to miss out on playing in the Big Ten title game... but received the No. 8 seed in the CFP and won four playoff games, all by double digits, to win the national championship.
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Here's the complete breakdown of how seeds have done in the College Football Playoff era. Because it was only a four-team field from 2014 through the 2023 seasons before the current 12-team bracket, we separated the two formats in different columns before combining them into one, overall record.
| Seed | 4-team BRACKET (2014-2023) |
12-team BRACKET (2024-present) |
Overall record |
|---|---|---|---|
| No. 1 | 12-6 (66.67%) | 0-1 | 12-7 (63.16%) |
| No. 2 | 8-7 (53.33%) | 0-1 | 8-8 (50%) |
| No. 3 | 6-9 (40%) | 0-1 | 6-10 (37.5%) |
| No. 4 | 4-8 (33.33%) | 0-1 | 4-9 (30.77) |
| No. 5 | N/A | 2-1 | 2-1 (66.67) |
| No. 6 | N/A | 2-1 | 2-1 (66.67%) |
| No. 7 | N/A | 3-1 | 3-1 (75%) |
| No. 8 | N/A | 4-0 | 4-0 (100%) |
| No. 9 | N/A | 0-1 | 0-1 (0%) |
| No. 10 | N/A | 0-1 | 0-1 (0%) |
| No. 11 | N/A | 0-1 | 0-1 (0%) |
| No. 12 | N/A | 0-1 | 0-1 (0%) |
Not surprisingly, the No. 1 seed had the best record in the four-team era at 12-6. The top seed also won four of the 10 CFP titles (No. 2 won three, No. 4 won two and No. 3 won once) — all coming in the last five seasons of the four-team bracket. The 12 wins in 10 seasons also means the No. 1 seed advanced to the title game each year, on average (the seed averaged more than one win per year in the CFP era).
It's important to note that besides the expansion leading to a different bracket setup, the seedings also are a little different. In the four-team format, the selection committee's four-highest ranked teams got seeded 1-4 — no matter how they did in terms of winning a conference. But in the first year of the 12-team bracket, the four highest-ranked conference champions received the top four seeds and a bye. In the only year of this practice, Boise State was ranked No. 9 and Arizona State was ranked No. 12, but because they were the third- and fourth-highest ranked conference champions they got seeded Nos. 3 and 4. Going forward, the committee's four highest-ranked teams will get the top four seeds and byes — they don't have to be conference champions.
