College football, 2026–27 playoff

College Football Playoff bracket 2026–27 printable, blank or with your picks

12 teams, 11 games Selection day Dec 6 Title game Jan 25, Las Vegas

College Football Playoff Bracket

2026–27 · Dec 18–19 – Jan 25, 2027

Selection day Dec 6 · 12 teams · 11 games

Seeds 1–4: bye · 5–12: First Round on campus

Bye

National Championship

Mon, Jan 25, 2027

Las Vegas, NV

National champion

Final score

–

How the playoff works

The committee seeds 12 teams on Dec 6 by its final ranking: the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC champions, the best-ranked team from the other six conferences, and seven at-large.
The top four seeds have a bye. First Round Dec 18–19 at the higher seed: 5 hosts 12, 6 hosts 11, 7 hosts 10, 8 hosts 9.
Quarterfinals Dec 30–Jan 1: Fiesta (Dec 30); Cotton, Peach and Rose (Jan 1). No. 1 picks its bowl first, then 2 and 3; 4 gets the last. No re-seeding.
Semifinals: Orange (Jan 14), Sugar (Jan 15). Title game Jan 25, Las Vegas.

Your bracket

Name Tie-breaker: total points in the title game

Scoring per right pick: First Round 1, quarterfinal 2, semifinal 4, title game 8. Best possible: 28.

2026–27 College Football Playoff schedule

Round	Date	Game	Where	TV
Selection day	Sun, Dec 6	Final ranking: 12 teams seeded
First Round	Fri, Dec 18	Two of seeds 5–12	Higher seed's campus	ESPN
First Round	Sat, Dec 19	Two of seeds 5–12	Higher seed's campus	ABC/ESPN
First Round	Sat, Dec 19	Two of seeds 5–12	Higher seed's campus	TNT/truTV/HBO Max
First Round	Sat, Dec 19	Two of seeds 5–12	Higher seed's campus	TNT/truTV/HBO Max
Quarterfinal	Wed, Dec 30	Fiesta Bowl	Glendale, AZ	TNT/truTV/HBO Max
Quarterfinal	Fri, Jan 1	Cotton Bowl	Arlington, TX	TBA
Quarterfinal	Fri, Jan 1	Peach Bowl	Atlanta, GA	TBA
Quarterfinal	Fri, Jan 1	Rose Bowl	Pasadena, CA	TBA
Semifinal	Thu, Jan 14	Orange Bowl	Miami Gardens, FL	TNT/truTV/HBO Max
Semifinal	Fri, Jan 15	Sugar Bowl	New Orleans, LA	ABC/ESPN
Title game	Mon, Jan 25	CFP National Championship	Las Vegas, NV	ABC/ESPN

Kickoff times are on the bowl schedule, in your time zone, with every other bowl game.

Good to know

How does the 12-team College Football Playoff work?

The selection committee's final ranking sets the field on selection day. The champions of the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC get automatic bids, as does the best-ranked team from the American, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac-12 and Sun Belt; the seven best-ranked teams left fill the field (Notre Dame is in if it's ranked in the top 12). Seeds follow the ranking: the top four get byes whether or not they won their conference, and nobody is re-seeded after a round.

When is the College Football Playoff selection day?

Sunday, December 6, 2026, the day after the conference championship games. The committee's final ranking sets all 12 seeds, and the bracket follows from them.

Where are the playoff games played?

The First Round (Dec 18–19) is at the higher seed's stadium. The quarterfinals are the Fiesta Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Peach Bowl and Rose Bowl; the semifinals the Orange Bowl and Sugar Bowl. The title game is in Las Vegas, NV on Monday, January 25.

How do I fill in and print my picks?

Print the blank sheet and write the teams on their seed lines after selection day, or choose “Type teams”, type the twelve in, then click a winner in each game. Your champion goes in the box in the middle. Picks stay on this device until you clear them, and the sheet prints them: winners in bold, teams you knocked out struck through.

How does the scoring on the sheet work?

Simple pool scoring that rewards later rounds: 1 point per right pick in the First Round, 2 in the quarterfinals, 4 in the semifinals and 8 for the champion, 28 at most. The tie-breaker is the total points scored in the title game.

Sources

College Football Playoff bracket 2026–27: 12 teams, First Round to the title game, on one printable page — The printed page, as the PDF prints it. Save to Pinterest