It is a well-versed group of athletic directors, former coaches and players along with a sports writer, who will be armed with statistics, analytics, charts and graphs and enough highlights to start their own college football network as the settle into their work on the College Football Playoff selection committee.

In the end, though, the sport's method of determining a champion – or at least deciding who gets the right to play for the championship – comes down to a matter of opinion.

Now in its second year with an expanded bracket, 12 teams will make the playoff to close out the 2025-26 season. Five of those slots will go to conference champions. The rest will be at-large bids to be handed out by the 13-person committee.

Here’s a far-too-early prediction at where they will end up, an

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