CFP Committee ‘Leaning’ Toward 5+7 Format for Expanded Playoff: Report
According to a report from ESPN insider Heather Dinich, the College Football Playoff management committee is leaning towards moving to a 5+7 format for the expanded playoff starting next season.
A 5+7 format would mean that the top five conference champions — the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, and the highest-ranked Group of Five team — and the next seven highest-ranked teams would make the new-look 12-team College Football Playoff.
Originally the plan was for a 6+6 format but after the Pac-12 desolved, the rules on the playing field changed.
On Wednesday, during an appearance on ESPN’s Get Up, Dinich revealed the news after previously reporting that there was a “strong preference” to make changes to the future format.
“I am at the Big Ten headquarters in Rosemont, Illinois,” Dinich said. “The College Football Playoff management committee — the commissioners and Jack Swarbrick, Notre Dame’s athletic director — they’re meeting here today. They’re talking about the format, 5+7 maybe. Are they going to switch to that? I don’t know. But it’s definitely on the table and my sources indicate they are leaning towards that in a 12-team playoff.”
The 12-team playoff is set to begin next season, 10 years after a four-team format changed the way that we view the postseason in college football. It’s an exciting time to be a football fan, and the 12-team playoff will give even more fan bases a reason to be bought in for the biggest spectacle in the sport.
