College Football Playoff odds, bracket: Ohio State, LSU, Miami in strong position after Week 1

Here's how the College Football Playoff bracket looks after Week 1 of the 2025 college football season

By Chinmay Vaidya

Sep 5, 2025 at 1:07 pm ET • 3 min read

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Week 1 of the college football season had some massive clashes, as Ohio State, LSU and Miami each won top 10 matchups over Texas, Clemson and Notre Dame respectively. But perhaps the biggest news of the weekend was that Florida State upset No. 8 Alabama 31-17 in Tallahassee behind a big day from new quarterback Tommy Castellanos.

Here's a look at how the biggest results from Week 1 impact the College Football Playoff bracket.

College Football Playoff odds (via FanDuel)

Ohio State (-650 to make, +440 to miss)
Penn State (-420 to make, +310 to miss)
Georgia (-235 to make, +186 to miss)
LSU (-215 to make, +172 to miss)
Texas (-184 to make, +148 to miss)
Clemson (-115 to make, -105 to miss)
Notre Dame (-106 to make, -114 to miss)
Miami (-115 to make, -105 to miss)
Alabama (+164 to make, -205 to miss)
Florida State (+490 to make, -700 to miss)
Iowa State (+520 to make, -800 to miss)
South Carolina (+610 to make, -1000 to miss)

The College Football Playoff was a 12-team field for the first time last year, but there are already changes made to the format for 2025. In 2024, the four highest-rated conference champions were given the top four seeds as well as a first-round playoff bye. That's not the case this year, though, as the four highest-ranked teams regardless of conference affiliation will secure a bye.

The Seminoles jumped up to No. 14 in the latest poll after entering 2025 unranked, but they'll have to deal with both Clemson and Miami in the ACC.

The Tigers' playoff path won't be heavily impacted by a Week 1 loss to LSU, but the emergence of Florida State as a contender complicates Clemson's road. Dabo Swinney's group avoids Miami but now has to deal with the Seminoles and a South Carolina squad which beat Virginia Tech on Sunday. The Hurricanes have an easy game this week, but have to deal with the likes of South Florida and Florida in the following weeks.

LSU finally won a season opener under Brian Kelly, and that momentum could propel the Tigers to the playoff despite a challenging schedule. LSU will get a chance to relax a bit against Louisiana Tech in week before a rivalry matchup with Florida on Sept. 13. South Carolina looked shaky at times against the Hokies but the Gamecocks prevailed and showed flashes of being the trendy, upstart team many fans are backing to make noise in the SEC and beyond.

Alabama fans might've had flashbacks to Johnny Manziel on Saturday watching Castellanos tear up the Crimson Tide defense. Kalen DeBoer's side had some openings to curb Florida State's momentum but simply couldn't make the clutch plays down the stretch. A second loss in SEC play won't derail Alabama's playoff hopes but DeBoer's group has little margin for error with games against Georgia, South Carolina and LSU looming. Texas' margin for error has also shrunk substantially, with the Longhorns having tough road trips to Florida and Georgia.

Perhaps no team lost more juice when it comes to a playoff push than Notre Dame. Since the Irish don't have a conference championship to play for, they'll need signature wins across the board and likely have to run the table to get an at-large bid. The schedule looks a bit more manageable with Boise State likely going out of the top 25 but the Texas A&M game in two weeks now looms large.

Here's a theoretical College Football Playoff bracket, based on conjecture of where things may stand at the end of the season: