CFP bracket: Who got in and who got left out

Weeks of speculation ended on Sunday as the College Football Playoff Selection Committee released their final rankings, as well as the bracket, for this season’s 12-team playoff.

Thanks to a dramatic Championship Saturday, there were a few surprises in the field.

The last few weeks, as well as the results from Saturday, led to some huge questions the Committee needed to answer with these rankings. With a five-loss Duke team winning the ACC would the Blue Devils actually secure a bid, or would the ACC be shut out of the College Football Playoff completely? Would Alabama’s loss to Georgia doom their playoff chances? What about the ongoing discussion between Notre Dame and Miami?

Would we truly see two Group of 5 teams — Tulane out of the American Athletic Conference and James Madison out of the Sun Belt Conference — in the field?

We now have our answers to those questions, and more.

Here are the final rankings from the College Football Playoff Selection Committee, as well as the bracket and the first-round matchups.

Here is the 12-team field, listed by their seed in the bracket:

1. Indiana (13-0)
2. Ohio State (12-1)
3. Georgia (12-1)
4. Texas Tech (12-1)
5. Oregon (11-1)
6. Ole Miss (11-1)
7. Texas A&M (11-1)
8. Oklahoma (10-2)
9. Alabama (10-3)
10. Miami (10-2)
11. Tulane (11-2)
12. James Madison (12-1)

Notre Dame was the first team out, while BYU was the second team out.

Here is the bracket for the 2025-2026 College Football Playoff:

Games begin on December 19, with Alabama at Oklahoma.

Here are the final rankings from the College Football Playoff Committee, which will be filled in as the teams are listed:

1. Indiana (13-0)
2. Ohio State (12-1)
3. Georgia (12-1)
4. Texas Tech (12-1)
5. Oregon (11-1)
6. Ole Miss (11-1)
7. Texas A&M (11-1)
8. Oklahoma (10-2)
9. Alabama (10-3)
10. Miami (10-2)
11. Notre Dame (10-2)
12. BYU (11-2)
13. Texas (9-3)
14. Vanderbilt (10-2)
15. Utah (10-2)
16. USC (9-3)
17. Arizona (9-3)
18. Michigan (9-3)
19. Virginia (10-3)
20. Tulane (11-2)
21. Houston (9-3)
22. Georgia Tech (9-3)
23. Iowa (8-4)
24. James Madison (12-1)
25. North Texas (11-2)