The 12-team College Football Playoff is quickly becoming a college football betting staple for futures wagering, in its second season under this format.
Which teams will back up their recruiting rankings and preseason hype? And will anybody make a Cinderella run the way Indiana and Arizona State did last year in the inaugural 12-team Playoff? Here we go with our updated projection of the CFP field for the 2025 season after Week 9.
Projected College Football Playoff Field For 2025
Seed, Team | Conference | 2025 (Overall, Conference) |
| Big Ten | 7-0 (4-0) |
| SEC | 8-0 (5-0) |
| Big Ten | 8-0 (5-0) |
| SEC | 7-1 (5-0) |
| Big Ten | 7-1 (4-1) |
| ACC | 8-0 (5-0) |
| Big 12 | 8-0 (5-0) |
| SEC | 6-1 (4-1) |
| SEC | 7-1 (4-1) |
| ACC | 6-1 (2-1) |
| Independent | 5-2 |
| American | 6-1 (3-0) |
1. Ohio State
2. Texas A&M
3. Indiana
4. Alabama
5. Oregon
6. Georgia Tech
8. Georgia
9. Mississippi
10. Miami
12. TulaneOf note for customers at sports betting sites contemplating wagers on college football: The seeding format has changed from last year's inaugural run at a 12-team field.
For the 2025 College Football Playoff, the teams will be seeded in order of their final CFP ranking, with no first-round byes guaranteed for conference champions. The five highest-ranked conference champions – including one from the Group of Five leagues – will be guaranteed a spot in the 12-team field. Last year, the top four seeds (and first-round byes) were awarded to the four highest-ranked conference champions, which led to ninth-ranked Boise State receiving the No. 3 seed and Big 12 champion Arizona State, which was 12th in the final CFP rankings, getting the No. 4 seed.
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Top CFP Contenders
There was very little movement over the weekend. Oklahoma and Missouri were the highest-ranked teams to lose, and they both fell to teams rated higher in the Associated Press poll. The Sooners and Tigers both took their second SEC losses, meaning they would need to run the table from here in out, then get a ton of help to even make the SEC Championship Game.
Notre Dame is back in our field as teams rated in front of the Fighting Irish have lost over the past several weeks.
The schedule holds no more ranked teams for Notre Dame and the opening losses to Miami and Texas A&M look forgivable, considering what the Hurricanes and Aggies have achieved since they defeated the Fighting Irish.
Notre Dame's annual game against Navy, one of six unbeaten teams left in the country, awaits on Nov. 8, but pollsters don't even have the Midshipmen (7-0 overall, 5-0 American Conference) ranked thanks to a weak schedule. The six FBS teams that Navy has beaten have a combined record of 19-27 and CFB futures boards don't rate Navy's Playoff chances, either.
BYU is one of the other remaining undefeated teams.
The Cougars have a bye week to prepare for a Nov. 8 trip to Lubbock to face No. 13 Texas Tech in a game with huge Big 12 title race implications. The No. 10 Cougars have an average margin of victory of 8.0 points in their five conference wins, none of them by more than 14 points.
But the CFP committee won't care about that too much as long as BYU keeps winning.
College Football Playoff Bubble Watch
Team, Conference | Odds | 2025 (Overall, Conference) |
| +125 | 7-1 (3-1) |
| -170 | 7-1 (4-1) |
| +300 | 6-2 (3-2) |
| +500 | 7-1 (4-0) |
| +330 | 7-1 (5-0) |
Texas Tech, Big 12
Tennessee, SECThe CFP odds above are available for customers using the DraftKings promo code.
A team that's usually an afterthought, and has never won a conference title during 90-plus seasons in the SEC, might be the best story of the year in college football.
Vanderbilt has reached No. 9 in the AP poll, the highest ranking for the Commodores since 1937.
Vandy, coming off of a win over Missouri on Saturday, still faces a test at No. 20 Texas this Saturday, then the regular-season finale in Knoxville at Tennessee. Can the Commodores afford to lose one of those two games, finish 10-2 and still reach the 12-team Playoff field? On paper, a two-loss SEC team with wins over LSU and Mizzou (plus either Texas or Tennessee) merits some consideration.
Let's also talk about two teams flying under the radar. They are both undefeated in conference play and lurking in the bottom half of the top 25, with interesting college football odds at the moment.
No. 15 Virginia has won six in a row to keep pace in the ACC race.
That winning streak includes a victory over then-No. 8 Florida State that launched the Cavaliers' season and sent the Seminoles into a tailspin. UVA is half a game behind Georgia Tech for first in the ACC and has no ranked teams left on its schedule, though Saturday's trip out west to face California could be tricky. Virginia has +700 odds at FanDuel to win the ACC, fourth on the operator's board.
And in the Big 12, 
Cincinnati has quietly assembled a seven-game winning streak as the 17th-ranked Bearcats have stamped themselves as Big 12 contenders.
Saturday's late game at Utah (10:15 p.m. Eastern) and a home showdown against BYU on Nov. 22 will be very telling for the Bearcats. At bet365 Sportsbook, the Bearcats have +500 odds to win the Big 12, third behind Texas Tech (-150) and BYU (+450).
College Football Playoff 2025 Q&A
Q: Who is projected as the No. 1 seed in the 2025 College Football Playoff?
A: Ohio State currently holds the top seed in our projected 2025 College Football Playoff field with a 7-0 record (4-0 in Big Ten play). The Buckeyes are ahead of Texas A&M, Indiana and Alabama in our projected playoff field.
Q: Which SEC teams are in the 2025 College Football Playoff picture?
A: Texas A&M, Alabama, Georgia and Ole Miss all appear in the Top 10, with Vanderbilt and Tennessee on the bubble. The SEC's depth makes it the most competitive conference in the playoff race this year.
Q: What teams are on the 2025 College Football Playoff bubble?
A: Vanderbilt (+200 odds to make the CFP at DraftKings), Texas Tech (-170), Tennessee (+300), Virginia (+500) and Cincinnati (+330) are considered bubble teams. Each has had a strong start, but upcoming games will determine whether they can secure a playoff spot.
