The Southern Line
24-team playoff mock built from 2025 rankings gives Georgia and the SEC four of eight byes
A 24-team bracket built from last season's rankings gives the SEC seven bids and four byes. Here is what that means for Saturday's games.
The College Football Playoff is expected to grow to 24 teams in 2027. When last season's rankings are run through that format, the SEC takes a large share of the field. CBS Sports reported that the CFP and ESPN are close to finishing a television deal for the bigger bracket, and that conference championship games are expected to go away. CBS then rebuilt the 2025 field using the final rankings released before championship weekend.
In the format CBS describes, the top eight seeds get byes and seeds 9 through 24 play eight first-round games. Seven SEC teams would have made the 2025 field. Georgia would have been the No. 3 seed, with Ole Miss sixth, Texas A&M seventh and Oklahoma eighth. That gives the league half of the byes. Alabama would have hosted North Texas as the No. 9 seed. Texas would have opened against Tulane at No. 13, and Vanderbilt would have drawn Michigan as the 14th seed. Texas and Vanderbilt are among 13 programs the larger field would have added. James Madison would have been the only team to lose its place.
CBS writer Robby Kalland points out the tradeoffs. Teams outside the top eight would have to win an extra game, and the committee might rank the bottom of the top 25 differently with a deeper cutoff. Key details, including how many spots go to conference champions and how many are at-large, still need final approval. Without title games, tiebreakers would matter more in large conferences where many teams never play each other, and that applies directly to the SEC.
What it means this week
In this season's race, the teams piling up wins would be the ones fighting for byes. Georgia is 6-0 after a 20-17 win at Alabama and hosts Auburn. The Bulldogs are favored by 19.5 points on Novig at -1076, and BetRivers has the widest number on the board with Auburn at +20.5 (game page). Alabama is 5-1 and plays its first game since that loss at No. 14 Tennessee. The Crimson Tide are favored by 7.5 on Novig at -292, and Pinnacle has the Volunteers at +8.5 (game page).
Texas is 4-1 after a 27-24 loss to Oklahoma. It hosts Florida as an 11.5-point favorite on Novig at -388, while BetMGM lists the Longhorns at -11 (game page). Oklahoma is 3-2, with the win over Texas and a 41-13 loss at Georgia. It hosts No. 15 Kentucky as a 6.5-point favorite on Novig at -217, and the loser of that game would slide toward the bubble (game page). Ole Miss is 4-1 and hosts No. 13 Missouri. The Rebels are favored by 5.5 on Novig at -190, Pinnacle has them at -5, and DraftKings has the best Missouri moneyline at +185 (game page).
Vanderbilt and Texas A&M are both 3-3. The Commodores have lost three straight, including a 52-17 loss to Ole Miss. They are favored by 5.5 on Novig at -208 against Arkansas, and Pinnacle has the Razorbacks at +6.5 (game page). The Aggies lost 27-6 at Missouri and host The Citadel.
On every SEC spread this weekend, the venues are within a point of one another, and sportsbook hold runs from about 3% to 7%. Mississippi State was not in last year's mock field. The Bulldogs are 4-1 and visit No. 22 LSU as a 15.5-point underdog on Novig, while theScore Bet has them at +16.5 (game page).