College Football Playoff Pool: 12 Teams, 11 Games, One Champion
The 12-team College Football Playoff turned the postseason into a real tournament: four first-round games on campus, then the quarterfinals, semifinals, and a national title game. That's 11 games over five weeks, enough for a proper pool but short enough that everyone stays in it.
A CFP pool is the cleanest postseason contest in college football. There's no 40-game bowl slate to fill out, just the games that decide the title, with picks made as each round's matchups are set.
📅 When it opens: CFP pools open here when the bracket is revealed on Selection Day, Sunday, December 6. Until then, run a weekly college pick'em now and move the same group into the playoff pool when the field is set.
Free up to 10 players · players join with a link, no app or account · we never touch the pot
The 2026–27 playoff calendar
- 1
Selection Day — Sunday, Dec. 6
The committee reveals all 12 seeds and the four first-round matchups. The top four seeds get first-round byes and go straight to the quarterfinals.
- 2
First round — Dec. 18–19
One game Friday night, Dec. 18, and three on Saturday, Dec. 19, all at the higher seed's home stadium. Campus playoff games are some of the loudest of the year.
- 3
Quarterfinals — Dec. 30 and Jan. 1
The Fiesta Bowl on Wednesday, Dec. 30, then the Cotton, Rose, and Peach Bowls on New Year's Day. The bye teams make their debuts here.
- 4
Semifinals and the title game
The Orange Bowl (Jan. 14) and Sugar Bowl (Jan. 15) semifinals, then the national championship on Monday, Jan. 25 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, the first title game ever played there.
Three ways to run a playoff pool
Pick the format that fits how closely your group follows college football.
Round-by-round pick'em
Pick each round's games once the matchups are known: four first-round games, then four quarterfinals, two semifinals, and the final. Nobody's bracket is dead after Week 1 of the playoff.
Set this up →Confidence, weighted by round
Rank your picks, or make later rounds worth more: one point per first-round win, two per quarterfinal, four per semifinal, eight for the champion. The title game decides close pools.
Set this up →Against the spread
Playoff games between near-equal teams are often coin flips straight up. Grading against the opening line makes every pick a real decision.
Set this up →Fold it into a bowl pool
Many offices run one big bowl confidence pool with the playoff games included. See the bowl pick'em pool page for that setup.
Set this up →
Bracket or round by round?
A full bracket, where you predict every round before the first game, is fun for about a week. Then a first-round upset knocks out someone's champion and they stop checking. Round-by-round pools fix that: you pick each round after you know who's playing, so a bad first round costs you points but never knocks you out.
Round-by-round also handles the byes cleanly. The top four seeds don't play until the quarterfinals, and in a round-by-round pool their games simply appear when the opponents are decided.
What to watch when you pick
Playoff games are close by design, so the details matter more than in the regular season:
- •Home field in the first round: the higher seed hosts on campus, in December, often in bad weather for a visiting team from a warm climate.
- •Rust against rhythm: bye teams get rest but haven't played since their conference title game. First-round winners arrive with momentum and an extra game of wear.
- •Opt-outs barely matter here: unlike minor bowls, players rarely sit out playoff games.
- •The spread moves: if you run against the spread, lines set on Selection Day can shift several points by kickoff. Pools here grade against the opening line so everyone picks against the same number.
Why run your playoff pool here
Matchups fill in automatically
Each round's games appear when they're set, with no bracket to rebuild after every Saturday.
Locks at kickoff
Every game locks when it starts, so players can pick each round right up until game time.
Live standings
Scores update during the games, and the leaderboard moves with every touchdown.
One link for the group
Players join with a name and email. No app, no account, nothing to install.
Same group as your season pool
Run a college pick'em all fall and your group is already here when the playoff starts.
Free for small groups
Up to 10 players free. Unlimited is $49 a year for bigger groups.
We never touch the pot
Plenty of playoff pools are for bragging rights. If yours has a buy-in, you set it and the payout split, collect it yourself by Venmo, Zelle, or cash, and pay the winner after the title game. Pick'em Builder tracks the picks and the pot, and never handles the money.
Pricing
Free for pools up to 10 players — every format, live scoring, full standings. Bigger group? Unlimited is $49/year (about $4 a month) or $5/month, for as many players and pools as you want. Players always join free.
Questions
- How many games are in the College Football Playoff?
- Eleven: four first-round games, four quarterfinals, two semifinals, and the national championship. The top four seeds have first-round byes.
- When is the 2026–27 national championship?
- Monday, January 25, 2027, at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
- When can I start a playoff pool?
- CFP pools open here on Selection Day, Sunday, December 6, when the bracket is revealed. You can set up your group's college pick'em now.
- Is a round-by-round pool better than a bracket?
- For most groups, yes. A round-by-round pool keeps everyone alive all the way to the title game, because you pick each round after you know the matchups.
- Can the playoff games be part of a bigger bowl pool?
- Yes. Many groups include the 11 playoff games in a full bowl confidence pool, often weighting the playoff games more heavily.
Related guides
Twelve teams. Eleven games. One group chat.
Start your college pick'em now, and your playoff pool is ready the moment the bracket drops on December 6.
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