Big Ten, SEC demanded power to determine College Football Playoff format, but can't come to a decision

Even though all 10 conference commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua preferred the College Football Playoff to expand next season, the CFP announced last week the current 12-team playoff format would continue in 2026.

Everyone wants more teams in the playoff, but they’re staying at 12 teams. Why? 

Well, the official reason, says CFP executive director Rich Clark, is this “gives the Management Committee additional time to review the 12-team format, so they can better assess the need for potential change. While they all agree the current format has brought more excitement to college football and has given more schools a real shot in the postseason, another year of evaluation will be helpful.”

That reasoning – how can I put this – is bullshit. Look, don’t blame Clark, he’s just the messenger. The blame lies directly with The Two. The Big Ten and SEC. Or the SEC and Big Ten, if you prefer.

Nearly two years ago college football’s two behemoths demanded – and received – control to determine the future of the College Football Playoff. Give us the control, they said, or something to that effect. We demand it. We deserve it. Or we’ll huff and we’ll puff and we’ll blow down every other conference’s house down.

Once officially granted the power, The Two held countless meetings and discussions. Yet, they haven’t made any progress.

“The Two wanted the power to make a decision,” an industry source told On3, “and now they can’t even come to a decision.”

“It’s disgusting,” another source said.

The Big Ten wants a 24-team playoff, which includes multiple automatic bids for the power leagues and the ability to stage “play-in” games. The SEC wants a 16-team playoff with five automatic bids for conference champions and 11 at-large bids.

“The SEC and Big Ten wrestled the power away and now have fumbled the opportunity to expand to 16 or more teams,” a source said.

Not that it matters, but the remaining eight leagues also prefer the SEC’s 16-team model, but they are the silent majority.

The Big Ten and SEC have absolute control over any playoff changes. Total control, no progress. Fun times.

“They basically bullied their way into an agreement that provides them a lion’s share of revenue and control of the format,” a source said. “And, yet, they can’t work together because of their egos.”

The Two’s inability to agree on a new format guarantees the 12-team playoff continues in 2026 but with a few not-so-subtle changes.

In 2026, each of the Power 4 conference champions, regardless of their final ranking, will receive an automatic bid. The highest-ranked Group of 6 team, whether it is a conference champion or not, will also get an automatic bid.

And then there’s Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish will automatically receive an at-large bid if they finish in the Top 12. All of these changes for 2026 were agreed upon in 2024, when the commissioners gave all the power to the Big Ten and SEC.

Quick sidebar: Here is the final 2025 College Football Playoff rankings: 1. Indiana (Big Ten champ), 2. Ohio State, 3. Georgia (SEC champ), 4. Texas Tech (Big 12 champ), 5. Oregon, 6. Ole Miss, 7. Texas A&M, 8. Oklahoma, 9. Alabama, 10. Miami, 11. Notre Dame, 12. BYU, 20. Tulane (highest ranked G6 team) and ACC champ Duke (not ranked in Top 25).

If the 2026 formula was in place for this past season, the top 9 teams would have been seeded 1-through-9, the No. 10 seed would have been Notre Dame, Tulane would have been No. 11 and Duke No. 12. No. 10 Miami – the same Miami that played in the national title game – and No. 12 BYU would have been left out of the 12-team playoff. Along with Sun Belt champ James Madison, which qualified as a conference champion.

Now where were we. Oh ya, so in 2026, we potentially could have a playoff where the following could happen:

* Power 4 conference champions ranking outside the Top 12 get automatic bids;

* A Group of 6 (American, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac-12 or Sun Belt) team that doesn’t win its league title but ranks higher than the highest ranking Group of 6 conference champion gets an automatic bid;

* Notre Dame ranks No. 12 and gets an at-large bid while the Nos. 10 and 11 ranked teams are left out of the playoff because of the Notre Dame clause and a Power 4 conference champion(s) and/or the Group of 6 don’t rank in the top 12.

I personally don’t have a problem with Notre Dame getting a bid if it ranks in the Top 12. But only if the playoff would simply put the top 12 teams in the playoff. So, I guess I do have a problem the way the 2026 format was created like Frankenstein’s monster.

This is the format in place for 2026, culminating with the latest date for a college football national title on Jan. 25, 2027 in Las Vegas.

What will the playoff look like in 2027? That’s undetermined. The announcement that the 2026 playoff would remain at 12 teams is only for the 2026 season. It’s a one-year extension that also screws the non-playoff bowls trying to secure/extend 1-year title sponsorships, etc. (not that they care). The Two now has a Dec. 1, 2026 deadline to make any changes to the 2027 playoff. Yes the deadline to change the 2027 playoff is before they will have a chance to see how the 2026 playoff version plays out.

That’s the ultimate chef’s kiss after two years of puckering up to The Two.