College Football Playoff Rankings 2026: Release Dates, Times and the Full Playoff Schedule

The first College Football Playoff (CFP) rankings of 2026 come out Tuesday, Nov. 3, from 7 to 8 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on ESPN, according to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and its NCAA.com schedule. Five more rankings shows follow through December, ending with Selection Day on Sunday, Dec. 6, when the selection committee sets the 12-team bracket. Twelve teams make the field. The clock below counts down to the three dates most people are waiting for.

Countdown to the CFP dates

The clock needs JavaScript. Without it, use the tables below. It counts to the exact start time in Eastern Time, then shows that moment in your own time zone.

When do the College Football Playoff rankings come out?

The committee reveals its rankings six times. The first five land on Tuesday nights; Selection Day moves to a Sunday afternoon. All of them air on ESPN in Eastern Time, per NCAA.com.

Date	Day	CFP rankings show	Time (Eastern)	Days from Oct. 24
Nov. 3	Tuesday	First rankings	7 to 8 p.m.	10
Nov. 10	Tuesday	Weekly rankings	9 to 9:30 p.m.	17
Nov. 17	Tuesday	Weekly rankings	9 to 9:30 p.m.	24
Nov. 24	Tuesday	Weekly rankings	7:30 to 8 p.m.	31
Dec. 1	Tuesday	Weekly rankings	7 to 7:30 p.m.	38
Dec. 6	Sunday	Selection Day: final rankings and bracket	Noon to 3 p.m.	43

The first show carries the most suspense because it is the committee’s opening look, which can differ from the polls. Last season the committee’s first No. 1 was Ohio State, released Nov. 4, 2025, while Indiana ended up No. 1 on Selection Day, Dec. 7, 2025, according to NCAA.com.

How the 12-team field is chosen

This is the third year of the 12-team playoff. The bracket takes the champions of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Big Ten, Big 12 and Southeastern Conference (SEC), plus the highest-ranked champion among the Group of Five leagues, which are the American, Conference USA, the Mid-American Conference (MAC), the Mountain West, the Pac-12 and the Sun Belt. The next seven highest-ranked teams fill the rest of the field, per fbschedules.com.

The 13-member selection committee, chaired this season by Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek, weighs results against ranked opponents, head-to-head games, conference championships and strength of schedule. The weekly shows explain the thinking before the bracket is locked on Selection Day.

College Football Playoff schedule 2026-27

Selection Day on Dec. 6 seeds the bracket. First-round games are played at the home stadiums of the higher seeds; the quarterfinals and semifinals rotate through the New Year’s Six bowls, and the title game is at a neutral site.

December 2026 games

Date	Day	Round	Site	Days from Oct. 24
Dec. 18	Friday	First round (8 p.m. ET, ESPN)	Campus sites	55
Dec. 19	Saturday	First round	Campus sites	56
Dec. 30	Wednesday	Fiesta Bowl quarterfinal	Glendale, Ariz.	67

January 2027 games

Date	Day	Round	Site	Days from Oct. 24
Jan. 1	Friday	Peach, Cotton and Rose Bowl quarterfinals	Atlanta; Arlington, Texas; Pasadena	69
Jan. 14	Thursday	Orange Bowl semifinal	Miami Gardens, Fla.	82
Jan. 15	Friday	Sugar Bowl semifinal	New Orleans	83
Jan. 25	Monday	National championship (7:30 p.m. ET)	Las Vegas	93

The national championship is Monday, Jan. 25, 2027, at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, on ABC and ESPN, according to ESPN and fbschedules.com. The quarterfinal and semifinal bowls listed here are the designated playoff sites; kickoff times for each game depend on the matchups set on Selection Day.

Print the schedule

Our free one-page sheet lists all six rankings shows and every playoff date with Eastern Time start times, and leaves room to fill in your own bracket picks. Use the ink-saver version for a home printer. It is a static sheet, so check the tables above if a date or time changes.

Plan the season

Mark the rankings nights and playoff games on our November 2026, December 2026 and January 2027 printable calendars. The playoff shares the holidays with the pro game; see the Thanksgiving football schedule for the Nov. 26 games, the printable NFL schedule for 2026-27 for the weeks around the playoff, and the World Series 2026 schedule for the fall’s other title chase.