College Football Playoff Bracket: Full Schedule, Rankings, and Live Scores

The College Football Playoff bracket are here. The official 12-team College Football Playoff field and final Top 25 rankings were announced on December 8th. Ohio State will face Notre Dame in the national championship on Monday, January 20th.

Below are the bracket, final seeds, and full playoff schedule.

2024-25 College Football Playoff Bracket

This table uses the committee’s final Top 25 rankings as of Sunday, December 8. It is important to note that the Top 25 rankings do not necessarily correspond to the playoff seeding order. The top four conference champions will receive a top four spot and a bye, regardless of where those four teams are ranked in the Top 25. The fifth-highest ranked conference champion will also receive an automatic berth, but that team will not be given a bye.

College Football Playoff schedule, scores

All times Eastern

National Championship

Monday, Jan. 20

No. 7 Notre Dame vs. No. 8 Ohio State (Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia) | 7:30 p.m. | ESPN

First round

Friday, Dec. 20

No. 7 Notre Dame 27, No. 10 Indiana 17

Saturday, Dec. 21

No. 6 Penn State 38, No. 11 SMU 10
No. 5 Texas 38, No. 12 Clemson 24
No. 8 Ohio State 42, No. 9 Tennessee 17

Quarterfinals

Thursday, Jan. 2

No. 7 Notre Dame 23, No. 2 Georgia 10 (Sugar Bowl)

Tuesday, Dec. 31

No. 6 Penn State 31, No. 3 Boise State 14 (Fiesta Bowl)

Wednesday, Jan. 1

No. 5 Texas 39, No. 4 Arizona State 31 (2OT) (Peach Bowl)
No. 8 Ohio State 41, No. 1 Oregon 21 (Rose Bowl)

Semifinals

Thursday, Jan. 9

No. 7 Notre Dame 27, No. 6 Penn State 24 (Orange Bowl)

Friday, Jan. 10

No. 8 Ohio State 28, No. 5 Texas 14 (Cotton Bowl)

College Football Playoff Rankings, Seeds

Below you can see the difference between these numbers (seeds and CFP rankings). The four teams with byes are in bold.

Below are the final CFP Top 25 rankings. Teams in the CFP also receive a seeding order at the end.

Oregon — highest-ranked conference champion (Big Ten) and seeded No. 1
Georgia — second-highest-ranked conference champion (SEC) and seeded No. 2
Texas — at-large pick (second team from the SEC), seeded No. 5
Penn State — at-large pick (second team in the Big Ten), seeded No. 6
Notre Dame — at-large pick (independent), seeded No. 7
Ohio State — at-large pick (third team from the Big Ten), seeded No. 8
Tennessee — at-large pick (third team from the SEC), seeded No. 9
Indiana — at-large pick (fourth team from the Big Ten), seeded No. 10
Boise State — third-highest-ranked conference champion (Mountain West) and seeded No. 3
SMU — at-large pick (from the ACC), seeded No. 11
Alabama — first team out of the CFP
Arizona State — fourth-highest-ranked conference champion (Big 12) and seeded No. 4
Miami (Fla.) — second team out of the CFP
Ole Miss — third team out of the CFP
South Carolina — fourth team out of the CFP
Clemson — fifth-highest-ranked conference champion (ACC) and seeded No. 12
BYU — fifth team out of the CFP
Iowa State — sixth team out of the CFP
Missouri — seventh team out of the CFP
Illinois — eighth team out of the CFP
Syracuse — ninth team out of the CFP
Army — 10th team out of the CFP
Colorado — 11th team out of the CFP
UNLV — 12th team out of the CFP
Memphis — 13th team out of the CFP

Boise State, which won the Mountain West Conference championship despite losing to No. 1 Oregon, qualified for the quarterfinals despite being ranked ninth, as it is the third-highest ranked among conference champions. Arizona State is only ranked 12th, but the Sun Devils are ranked fourth among conference champions, above ACC champion Clemson (16th), and thus earned the No. 4 seed and a first-round exemption.

No rearrangements will be made after the official participants are announced on Sunday, December 8.

The four quarterfinal games will not be played on campus. Instead, those four games scheduled for December 31 and January 1 will be played in the Fiesta Bowl, Rose Bowl, Peach Bowl and Sugar Bowl. The top four conference champions will be assigned to one of those bowl games, taking into account their past bowl game standings and seeding.

The four winners of the quarterfinals will meet in the semifinals on January 1 in either the Orange Bowl or Cotton Bowl. If the seedings are correct on January 9 and 10, (1) will play (4) and (2) will play (3). The winners of the semifinals will play for the national championship on January 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.