Changes are coming yet again to the College Football Playoff, but not with the number of teams just yet. Instead, the playing field has been leveled for everyone who makes it in, instead of giving an advantage to the conference champions.
In the 2024 College Football Playoff, the top four seeds, the automatics ' first-round byes, were given to the highest-ranked conference championship, so a team like Ohio State, which wasn't a champion but still won it all, was an 8-seed. Now going forward, the top four ranked seeds, whether they are a champion or not, will receive byes instead of the top-ranked conference champions.
Some fans are going to love this as conference champions don't just get a higher seed because of winning the championship, but other fans are going to wonder what even is the point of the conference championships now.
Nebraska fans are probably wondering why they should care about this
While this may not affect Nebraska this next season, even though they are most likely contenders in the Big Ten, Cornhusker fans should still be well aware of it. If Nebraska were to make it to the Big Ten Championship next season and lose to a lower-ranked team, they may not have to worry about falling out of a top seed that could give them a bye in the playoff.
This change comes just one year before the playoff is expected to expand again in 2026 to either 14 or 16 teams. This agreement on taking away the automatic byes for conference champions was voted on by the 10 FBS Commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua, and the vote passed unanimously.
Nebraska could or couldn't benefit from this change next season; it just depends on how the Cornhuskers perform in the 2025 season, but this significant change will be impactful come December of the next college football season.
Everyone is playing on the same level now.