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 7.
Projected College Football Playoff Field For 2025
Seed, Team | Conference | 2025 (Overall, Conference) |
| Big Ten | 6-0 (3-0) |
| ACC | 5-0 (1-0) |
| SEC | 6-0 (3-0) |
| Big Ten | 6-0 (3-0) |
| SEC | 6-0 (3-0) |
| SEC | 5-1 (3-0) |
| Big 12 | 6-0 (3-0) |
| Big Ten | 5-1 (2-1) |
| SEC | 5-1 (3-1) |
| ACC | 6-0 (3-0) |
| SEC | 5-1 (2-1) |
| American | 4-1 (0-0) |
1. Ohio State
2. Miami
3. Texas A&M
5. Mississippi
6. Alabama
7. Texas Tech
8. Oregon
9. Georgia
10. Georgia Tech
11. Tennessee
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
I was wrong. IU does belong.
Indiana Hoosiers football has rarely been more than an afterthought, but coach Curt Cignetti has turned that around massively in less than two years.
The Hoosiers achieved one of the biggest victories in program history on Saturday, upsetting Oregon 30-20 at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, one of the toughest places to win in college football.
Now Indiana (6-0 overall, 3-0 in the Big Ten) just needs to avoid the upset bug the rest of the season for CFB futures betting. The Hoosiers don't have any teams currently ranked in the Associated Press poll remaining on their schedule. They rose to No. 3 in this week's AP poll, the highest spot in program history (IU reached No. 4 in 1945 and 1967). That win over the Ducks is one of the best that anybody in the country owns on their resume.
We still have Indiana ranked below three projected conference champions (Ohio State, Miami and now Texas A&M), but would it really shock anybody at this point if IU earned the No. 1 seed in the CFP field? The Hoosiers should be heavy college football odds favorites in each remaining regular-season game.
College Football Playoff Bubble Watch
Team, Conference | Odds | 2025 (Overall, Conference) |
| +200 | 5-1 (2-1) |
| +700 | 6-0 (3-0) |
| -170 | 4-2 |
| +310 | 5-1 (3-1) |
| +240 | 5-1 (1-1) |
LSU, SEC
BYU, Big 12
Notre Dame, IndependentThe CFP odds above are available for customers using the DraftKings promo code.
The jockeying for position in the SEC continues to resemble another race that many folks in the southeastern states would easily recognize: A superspeedway NASCAR event at Daytona or Talladega.
The 
Oklahoma Sooners fell from the top 12 into our bubble watch bunch, and they're just barely hanging on there.
This isn't so much an overreaction to Saturday's loss to then-unranked Texas as much as it is an acknowledgement that OU has the nation's most brutal second-half schedule. After this week's visit to South Carolina, the other five teams on the slate for the Sooners are all in the current AP top 20.
Folks using the BetMGM bonus code can get +200 odds on the Sooners to make the playoff as of Oct. 14. They will certainly have enough opportunities to bolster their case.
LSU also has some rugged tests ahead and the offense continues to look unimpressive, which is why Tennessee leaps into our top 12 this week over the Bayou Bengals.
Finally, USC is at Notre Dame on Saturday, renewing a long-standing annual rivalry as a sort of loser-leave-town match for CFP contention. The Fighting Irish have two losses, albeit to Miami and Texas A&M, so those stumbles look more forgivable each week.
The 
USC Trojans would have a more logical CFP path, albeit a difficult one, should they win on Saturday (7:30 p.m. Eastern, NBC) in South Bend.
The Trojans have a lone blemish, a last-second defeat at Illinois, and they have the possibility of reaching the 12-team playoff field via the Big Ten conference championship game. If the Golden Domers take a third loss, that should finish them as a contender because their remaining schedule isn't strong enough to justify a three-loss team being in the field and, of course, they have no conference title game to aim for as a CFP ticket.
Bettors seeking a good line for backing USC can get 9.5 points at FanDuel Sportsbook as of Tuesday morning.
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 6-0 record (3-0 in Big Ten play). The Buckeyes' strong early-season wins put them ahead of Miami, Texas A&M and Indiana in the projected playoff field.
Q: Which SEC teams are in the 2025 College Football Playoff picture?
A: Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee all appear in the Top 10, with LSU and Oklahoma 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: LSU (+200 odds to make the CFP at DraftKings), BYU (+700), Notre Dame (-170), USC (+310) and Oklahoma (+240) are considered bubble teams. Each has had a strong start, but upcoming games will determine whether they can secure a Playoff spot.
