The College Football Playoff will go to a more straightforward way of filling the bracket next season, announcing Thursday that it will place teams strictly on where they are ranked instead of moving pieces around to reward conference champions.

As previously reported by Marcello, discussions about expanding the field to 14 or 16 teams -- with multiple automatic qualifiers reserved for the four power conferences -- have been ongoing for months. The 12-team expanded playoff model's contract ends after the 2025 season.

After one year of the College Football Playoff fielding a 12-team bracket, a significant change is coming to the postseason for the 2025 season. On Thursday, the College Football Playoff announced it will give the four highest-ranked teams according to the selection committee's final rankings a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff with no requirement to be a conference champion.