This week's picks

College Football Playoff Predictions and Projected Bracket, 2026

College Football Charts
Data updatedOct 31, 2026
Rank by
Champions

Projected bracket

Seeds 1–4 get first-round byes. Seeds 5–8 host the first round.

The field and the bubble

The columns on the right show where each team would be seeded under the other ratings. A dash means out.

How the field is built

  • 12 teams. Five get in automatically: the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC champions, plus the highest-ranked team from the American, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac-12 or Sun Belt (champion or not).
  • Notre Dame is in if it ranks in the top 12.
  • At-large. The remaining spots go to the highest-ranked teams left. If an automatic qualifier ranks outside the top 12, it takes the last at-large spot.
  • Seeding follows the ranking, as it has since 2025. A conference champion isn't guaranteed a bye.
  • Champions mid-season. "Current conference leader" uses the best conference record so far, with ties broken by the chosen rating. "Highest-rated team" picks the best-rated team in each conference instead.
  • Composite averages SP+, PRIME and strength of record after putting each on a common scale.
  • This is a projection from today's numbers. The real field is chosen by a committee on Dec. 6, after conference title games.

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