The College Football Playoff will include just 12 teams next season, if not for the foreseeable future, according to multiple insiders on Friday. The playoff went from four to 12 teams two years ago, and that number is holding steady.
Furthermore, Brett McMurphy of On3 is reporting that automatic bids will be given to each Power 4 champion, and that Notre Dame, should they be ranked in the top 12 of the final AP Poll, is still guaranteed an at-large bid in 2026.
The country’s two wealthiest conferences, the Big Ten and the SEC, are both in favor of an expanded playoff – albeit on different terms.
As ESPN reported earlier this week, the consensus is a larger playoff model but the Big Ten is holding out unless the SEC were to approve a 24-team format three seasons down the line. The same article said the SEC would prefer a 16-team model, but it’s unclear for just how long.
Should the playoff move toward a 16-team or 24-team model, conference championships become almost needless; The current 12-team format still tolerates conference titles as a means of gaining an autobid, but any larger and these title games ultimately become glorified bowl games and another week working against rosters preparing for the playoff.
Expansion of the field would, hopefully, improve the Big 12 odds at correcting an abysmal 1-8 all-time record in the history of the playoff. That lone win belongs to TCU, reaching the title game and delivering a 65-7 flat tire against Georgia in 2022. The conference’s latest blunder, courtesy of Texas Tech‘s 23-0 shutout loss to Oregon in the 2025 Orange Bowl, didn’t help matters.
If you’re the Big 12 or the ACC, the good news is expansion is envitable and the two king conferences, the Big Ten and the SEC, are obviously open to it; We’re talking about a difference of eight schools here, and there’s certainly a bargain or deal to be made in the committee somewhere. How do you think the Irish got their deal? Everybody knows somebody.
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