ESPN’s Heather Dinich joined Get Up on Friday morning to dish on some potential changes to the College Football Playoff that could be taking place as early as this coming season.
While the first iteration of the expanded, 12-team CFP drew some rave reviews, it wasn’t perfect, and decision-makers are looking to adjust a couple of the quirks. Change this coming season will likely be in the form of adjusting the seeding of teams that qualify, but Dinich believes at least two teams could be added to the field in 2026.
“We’re headed to major change, inevitably, at some point,” Dinich prefaced. “The question is, do they tweak the seeding for this fall? If they do, it needs to be unanimous. That means all 10 FBS commissioners and Notre Dame Athletic Director Pete Bevacqua have to agree to it. What would it look like? It would look like the Selection Committee’s Top 12. The Top 12 teams get the top 12 seeds. The four highest-ranked teams would get the top four seeds. That’s instead of the four highest-ranked conference champions, which it was this year, and then they get the first round bye. That’s small change, in the eyes of the commissioners, for this year.
“The big change would be in 2026 and beyond, get ready for 14 teams. Multiple sources at every level have told me that that’s the direction this is heading. The question is, are there automatic qualifiers in 2026 and beyond? The SEC and Big Ten sources have told me multiple people are in favor of four guaranteed teams each for both of those leagues. Two for the ACC, two for the Big 12, one at-large bye and one spot for that Notre Dame team if they’re ranked high enough to be included in it.”
Of course, the addition of two more CFP spots would be gigantic, but it’s hard to blame decision-makers after the success of the 12-team format. The controversial point is that the SEC and the Big Ten are looking to land four automatic bids each for the future of the CFP, and that’s a potential development that many college football fans and pundits alike haven’t been a fan of.
“There’s certainly public backlash around it, but the reality is, on paper, the Big Ten and the SEC have the bulk of control when it comes to determining the future format,” the ESPN insider added. “The question is, how much, if any, leverage, does anyone else in the room have when it comes to pushing back on this? And another thing that college football fans should know is under consideration is the possibility of play-in games, to determine who those teams would be to qualify for the College Football Playoff.
“So, in the SEC and Big Ten for example, there’s talk buzzing about, ‘Well, we have our two teams playing in the conference championship game, how do we define No. 3 and No. 4?’ Well, let’s have them play, and get those two winners on the field.”
Expanding the field, adding play-in games and guarantees multiple SEC and Big Ten teams a spot in the CFP would be a fascinating group of changes, and it’ll be interesting to see how many of these ideas come to fruition. The 12-team Playoff was a resounding success, but it’s telling that the conference leaders are looking to change the format this quick into the experiment.
Time will tell where the College Football Playoff goes from here, but it’s obvious change is on the horizon, and the answer at the moment is more, more and more.
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