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How a CFP Bracket pool works

A CFP Bracket is filled out once, before the first round: a winner for all 11 College Football Playoff games, through the national champion. Later rounds score more. Here is one bracket on the real 2025–26 playoff.

1. The commissioner sets the rules

The games are set for you. The commissioner chooses the rest, and can change it until the first-round kickoff on December 18:

• Round points. By default a correct pick scores 1 point in the first round, 2 in the quarterfinals, 4 in the semifinals and 8 in the title game, so a perfect bracket is worth 28. Any round can be set from 1 to 1,000.
• Tiebreaker. The title game's total points (the default), or none.

2. You fill out your bracket

Picks open on Selection Sunday, December 6, once the committee's 12 seeds are set. Seeds 5–12 play the first round on campus; the top four seeds have byes and meet the first-round winners in the quarterfinals: the 1 seed the 8–9 winner, the 2 the 7–10 winner, the 3 the 6–11 winner and the 4 the 5–12 winner. The semifinals pair the 1 and 4 sides and the 2 and 3 sides.

Pick a winner for every game, through the national champion. A team can only win a game you've picked it to reach, and with the tiebreaker on, your bracket includes your guess at the title game's total points.

3. Brackets lock

Every bracket locks at the first first-round kickoff on December 18, and nobody can save after that, the commissioner included; new entries close then too. Until the lock you can change anything as often as you like, and the commissioner can fill in or fix a member's bracket. Brackets stay hidden until the lock: the pool sees only who has saved one. Then everyone's bracket opens in the Field tab, with the share of the pool that picked each team.

4. Games are graded

PikSheet records each result as the game goes final. A pick scores its round's points when that team wins a game in that round, whoever it beats. Miami, the 10 seed, beat Texas A&M, Ohio State and Ole Miss on its way to the title game, and those were this bracket's three misses. The whole bracket:

8 of 11 picks correct scores 21 of a possible 28 points. The champion pick alone was worth as much as all four quarterfinals.

5. Tiebreaker

Entries level on points rank by how close they came to the title game's total points (48, for Indiana's 27–21 win), closest first. With the tiebreaker off, tied entries share a place.

6. Standings

One standings table covers the playoff. Each entry shows its points and the most it can still score, so you can see who is still alive for first. The most points after the national championship wins.

Ready to run one? Start a pool and choose CFP Bracket.