The College Football Playoff Committee officially switched the seeding for the 2025-2026 College Football Playoff to a straight-seeding model. This means the top four conference champions will no longer be given a first-round bye, as we saw last year.
This move sparked some controversy among college football fans and is now even drawing the attention of Boise State’s athletic director, who believes the switch is due to the Broncos having a first-round bye in last year’s playoff.
Boise State’s AD Responds to CFP’s Seeding Change
In a post on X that directly called out the CFP committee, Boise State’s athletic director, Jeramiah Dickey, said that the change in seeding should be called the “Boise State Policy.”
.@CFBPlayoff, please call it the Boise State policy…legacy is important…would make us feel better.
When the system is created to keep you down, you fight like hell to break it. Nothing to lose…Always What’s Next! 😈 Believe in epic! 1-0! #BleedBlue 🙏🏼 https://t.co/1tRJhuJUXT
— Jeramiah Dickey (@JeramiahDickey) May 23, 2025
In 2024, the Broncos had an impressive regular season. They are 11-1, only seeing the Oregon Ducks, who are the Ten Champions. Boise went on to win the Mountain West Conference Championship, solidifying their status as one of the best four conference champions in the country.
Their season was rewarded with a three seed in the college football playoff as well as a first-round bye, something that, at the time, college football fans complained about, as many did not believe that the Broncos were a top-three team in the nation.
Boise faced Penn State in the second round of the CFP, but they were outmatched and lost 31-14. This led to even more complaints from fans, hence why the seeding format was eventually changed.
Dickey is probably right. Boise State was most likely one of the main reasons the seeding model was altered. However, they weren’t the only ones. All teams in the CFP that weren’t Notre Dame, or members of the Big Ten or SEC, lost in their first playoff game.
This new seeding model should ensure that the best teams in the country get a first-round bye and that fans will see a more competitive playoff overall, instead of the blowouts we were treated to last season.
KEEP READING: Analyst Explodes Over Notre Dame’s ‘Unfair’ Advantage in New CFP Format
In fairness, there probably is no change to the college football playoff seeding that will appease everyone.
Some think that the Big Ten and SEC should each be granted four auto bids, something that may happen if the playoff expands to 16 teams, while others think that last year’s version was the fairest to conference champions.
Over the next decade, more changes will be made, but if Dickey gets his wish, maybe we will remember this change as the Boise State Policy.
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