The bye week. Is it a curse?

from Grok..

Question: since the new college football playoff, has the team with a bye week won the championship?

No, in the only completed 12-team College Football Playoff to date (the 2024-25 season), the national champion did not have a first-round bye.
Quick context on the 12-team format

It debuted for the 2024 season (played December 2024–January 2025).
The top 4 seeds receive a first-round bye (in 2024, these went to the four highest-ranked conference champions: Oregon, Georgia, Boise State, and Arizona State).
The champion was Ohio State, who entered as the No. 8 seed (an at-large bid). They played (and won) four playoff games:
First round: beat Tennessee
Quarterfinal: beat Oregon (the No. 1 seed with a bye)
Semifinal: beat Texas
National championship: beat Notre Dame 34–23


In fact, all four teams with first-round byes lost in the quarterfinals that year — none advanced further.
The 2025-26 playoff (for the 2025 season) is currently ongoing as of November 16, 2025, with first-round games still a month away, so no champion has been crowned yet under the new bye rules (top 4 overall ranked teams get byes starting this year).
So, to date in the 12-team era: 0-for-1 on a bye team winning it all.