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How a CFP Ladder pool works
A CFP Ladder asks one question before the first round: how far will each team go? You rank all 12 College Football Playoff teams, and every game a team wins pays you its rank. Here is one ladder on the real 2025–26 playoff.
1. The commissioner sets the rules
The teams are set for you. The commissioner chooses the rest, and can change it until the first-round kickoff on December 18:
- Bye credit. Off by default. When on, the top four seeds count their first-round bye as a game won.
- Round multiplier. Off by default: every round counts ×1. Any round can count up to ×10, such as the title game at ×2, so a team's win there pays twice its rank.
- Tiebreaker. The title game's total points (the default), or none.
2. You rank the field
Picks open on Selection Sunday, December 6, once the committee's 12 seeds are set. Rank every team from 12 (your strongest) down to 1, using each number once. A team that plays in the first round and wins the title wins four games; a top-four seed, after its bye, can win three, or four with bye credit on. With the tiebreaker on, your ladder includes your guess at the title game's total points.
3. Ladders lock
Every ladder 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 reorder as often as you like, and the commissioner can fill in or fix a member's ladder. Ladders stay hidden until the lock: the pool sees only who has saved one. Then everyone's ladder opens in the Field tab.
4. Games are graded
PikSheet records each result as the game goes final, and every win adds the winner's rank to your score. The whole ladder, with bye credit off:
| Team | Rank | Wins | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| IU seed 1 | 12 | 3 | 36 |
| OSU seed 2 | 11 | 0 | 0 |
| ORE seed 5 | 10 | 2 | 20 |
| UGA seed 3 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| MISS seed 6 | 8 | 2 | 16 |
| TTU seed 4 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| TA&M seed 7 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| OU seed 8 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| ALA seed 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 |
| MIA seed 10 | 3 | 3 | 9 |
| TULN seed 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| JMU seed 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
This ladder scores 85 points. With bye credit on, the four top seeds each count one more game and it scores 124. The 3 on Miami, a 10 seed that reached the title game, earned 9.
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. The most points after the national championship wins.
Ready to run one? Start a pool and choose CFP Ladder.