For some, a reconsideration of the College Football Playoff can’t come fast enough. Days after the announcement of the first CFP 12-team field there is already meaningful movement in changing the structure and format for 2026 sources told CBS Sports.
On the table is the continued sensitive subject of automatic qualifiers going forward. The question is how to implement such a structure seemingly preferred by the SEC and Big Ten.
One format being discussed is so-called play-in games during the regular season that would decide at least some of those automatic qualifiers on the field.
The championship Saturday could be enhanced by not only the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds meeting for the league title but teams below those two playing for automatic berths.
Think of the top six teams – at least — being involved in a massive championship Saturday three-game play-in. Using this season’s Big Ten and SEC standings this is how it would look.
Big Ten
No. 1 Oregon vs. No. 2 Penn State.
No. 6 Iowa vs. No. 3 Indiana
No. 5 Illinois vs. No. 4 Ohio State
SEC
No. 1 Texas vs. No. 2 Georgia
No. 6 Ole Miss vs. No. 3 Tennessee
No. 5 LSU vs. No. 4 Alabama
The three winners would advance to the CFP. It is not known if or how a fourth automatic qualifier would be added. That fourth team could come from an additional play-in game or merely including the championship game loser.
“I heard rumors of it. I haven’t studied it,” CFP executive director Rich Clark told CBS Sports Tuesday. “Ultimately that’s a Big Ten [and SEC] decision on how they play within their conference and a commissioner decision on how we look at that in regard to the playoff.”
Earlier this year, the Big Ten proposed a 14-team playoff with three automatic qualifiers each for the SEC and Big Ten. There would be two each for the ACC and Big 12.
The pushback from other FBS conferences was significant. The issue was tabled under early next year.
The 12-team bracket would almost certainly have to expand to accommodate such a structure. The most commonly mentioned number is 14 teams beginning in 2026.
Such a change would lessen the need for the CFP selection committee to actually select teams. In this model, the SEC and Big Ten would determine some of their participants on the field on that championship Saturday.
“The commissioners are going to look at it … In the end, they’re going to look at whether14 is a better number. That doesn’t mean that is a foregone conclusion,” CFP executive director Rich Clark said Tuesday from the Sports Business Intercollegiate Athletic Forum in Las Vegas.
Fourteen might be easier to sell to rightsholder ESPN than a jump to 16. Either way ESPN would be asked to pay more for a contract that already is at $7.8 billion beginning in 2026 and running through 2031.
Before the playoff expanded there were concerns from industry sources regarding how the impact of early-round games would have on the value of the contract.
In May, the CFP announced ESPN had sublicensed some playoff games to TNT.
The substantial change to the structure and format of the CFP would be the latest indicator of the influence of the SEC and Big Ten on the postseason. In the first field, the Big Ten ended without four teams. But there was outcry from Alabama and others in the SEC when the Crimson Tide, 9-3, weren’t included in the field.
Alabama AD Greg Byrne posted an impassioned tweet regarding the situation that eventually got community-noted.
It’s already known the two power conferences have weighted voting in determining the future structure and format of the CFP. That fact is already written into the CFP contract with ESPN.
“Contractually they have influence on it,” a person familiar with the negotiations said.
What is not known is the degree of impact that weighted voting has. In other words, could the seven other FBS conferences combine to overcome the power two conferences’ influence?
“ESPN has said absolutely not [on automatic qualifiers] because then it’s an invitational,” said one Power Four administrator outside the Super Two. “They love the tournament style. It’s a mini-version of the NCAA tournament. Yeah one [spot] for your champion but not multiple. Do you think the American public will put up with that?”
The two conferences announced earlier this year they had formed a joint advisory group. That sent shock waves through the industry. The leagues are also in talks about possibly playing a series of non-conference games against each other to ostensibly enhancing schedule strength..
It’s almost certain there will be some changes to the structure and format. CBS Sports last week detailed how the SEC and Big Ten have “serious concerns” about the human element of the selection committee.
Adding those play-in games would decide things more on the field but also cause concerns about the AQs.
By the third week of January everyone involved will have had a full season to absorb a 12-team format. Change could come in CFP meetings among stakeholders as soon as February, according to one source.
Going to a play-in format for AQs would possibly challenge other conferences below the SEC and Big Ten to do the same. There will already be existing complications with the two power conferences most likely going back to rightsholders for more money to televise those play-in games.
One model mentioned for other conferences is declaring a regular-season champion and then playing an AQ game between the second- and third-place teams to get a second team in.
The first season of the 12-team playoff was largely considered a success because it created more interest in the back half of the season. CBS Sports noted at the beginning of November that as many as 45-50 FBS teams were still realistically in contention.
The idea of such a play-in isn’t far-fetched. Yahoo Sports reported in the early days of modeling the four-team bracket there was discussion of seeding the field after the major bowls were played.
Early on, Notre Dame agreed to never getting a bye in return for not playing a conference championship game. That means in years when the Irish would be ranked No. 1, the highest they could finish was with the fifth seed. This season Notre Dame got the No. 7 seed after finishing fifth in the final rankings.
