The 11 programs that tasted the College Football Playoff but came up short in 2024 are already yearning for a return trip. For some -- such as Oregon and Georgia-- merely getting to the CFP won't be enough to satisfy championship-thirsty fan bases.

Week 1 of the 2025 college football season features a loaded slate, including LSU at Clemson, Notre Dame at Miami and Alabama at Florida State, among others. LSU-Clemson could be a top-five matchup, as could the biggest headliner: Manning and Texas visiting Ohio State in a matchup of the 2024 national champion and our early 2025 favorite.

Here's the complete schedule for the College Football Playoff for the 2025-26 season, including game dates, how to watch and teams. This is the second year of the 12-team playoff.

A championship in 2025 would guarantee the Cardinals a spot in the College Football Playoff for the first time. The Cardinals' highest finish in the CFP era was No. 13 in 2016, the same year quarterback Lamar Jackson won the Heisman Trophy. The Cardinals will kick off their season by facing Eastern Kentucky on Saturday, August 30.

The first 12-team Playoff had a lot of great moments. It could also use some tweaks. In the short term, leaders are unlikely to make major changes to the format for the 2025 season. The bigger stuff is more likely to come in 2026, when the new contracts kick in and the SEC and Big Ten basically get to do whatever they want.

It's never too early to look ahead to next season's College Football Playoff despite the Ohio State Buckeyes capturing the National Championship just weeks ago.

Now that it’s all over and the Ohio State Buckeyes are the college football national champions, it can be definitively said: Expanding the College Football Playoff worked.