The College Football Playoff (CFP) will remain a 12‑team format for the 2026 season, the CFP Management Committee announced Friday.
Efforts to expand the field stalled after the Big Ten and SEC failed to reach an agreement in time to modify the 2026 structure. The Big Ten has pushed for a 24‑team playoff, while the SEC has favored a 16‑team model.
“After ongoing discussion about the 12‑team playoff format, the decision was made to continue with the current structure,” said Rich Clark, Executive Director of the College Football Playoff. “This will give 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.”
Several adjustments to the existing format will take effect this season. Automatic bids will now go to the four power‑conference champions, along with the highest‑ranked Group of Six champion.
Under last year’s model, the top five highest‑ranked conference champions earned automatic berths—a setup that allowed James Madison and Tulane to reach the playoff.
Notre Dame will also be eligible for an automatic bid this season if it finishes in the Top 12 on Selection Sunday.
First‑round games will continue to be held on campus sites, with the quarterfinals and semifinals played at CFP bowl locations. Dates have not been finalized, but quarterfinals are again expected to fall on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, with semifinals scheduled for January 7-8.
The College Football National Championship will cap the season on Monday, Jan. 25, 2027, at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, where the two semifinal winners will meet for the title.
Booooooo!!!!!!!
Hang in there BYUfan CFP playoffs will expand.
12 Team playoff remains fair enough & hopefully Big 12 & ACC will become improve conferences to get a couple teams in.
Hope the ACC change their rubric for picking the two top teams, to use rankings in some way. Great that they changed the rules to lock in P4, and thank goodness that the committee chose Miami. If the ACC had done it right, Miami probably would have been the conference champion and won the game over Virginia, and then the extra at large spot would have gone to Notre Dame and Tulane would be the G6 that made it.
Where do you hear that the SFs are going to be 1/7/27 and 1/8/27?
Considering that the CFP has never held playoff games without at least a full week (6 days off) between rounds, I believe it to be extremely likely that the SFs will be 1/14-15 instead.
I like the non-move. Ler’s keep it at 12 and keep tweaking. Had they moved to 16, it likely would have stayed there for a long time. Keeping it at 12 means that it will eventually grow to what the Big Ten wants: 24.
You know what I think: 28. Here is my piece.
https://johnny228.wordpress.com/2025/12/04/for-college-football-the-28-is-the-answer/
Keepng it at 12 means 24 to 28 is coming sooner rather than later. They’ll get other networks involved just like the NFL does. Fox and Turner will sign on for billions and that will fuel this. Money, Money, Money.
But, I’m okay with 12 for the next few years–let this season and marinade. This year’s games were much better than last year’s for sure. Indiana pulled off a story that only Miracle on Ice (1980) trumps–that’s how astounding and improbable this win was.
The one thing they should do–have the first round and the quarterfinals played on campus sites. This gives the seeded teams a chance to host a game; a reward for the “better regular seasons.’ As we know bye-teams are 1-7 in 2024 and 2025. This just makes what Indiana did more impressive as they were the only bye-team to win in the quarterfinals.
I’m good with playing the semifinals at neutral sites, but my guess is that the quarterfinals will remain at the bowl game sites. It’s not a big deal.
Of course, the way they seeded it last year was part of this. Boise State and Arizona State were not top four teams. They fixed it this year, but the bye-teams still went 1-3.
If you’re going to have Conference Championship Games, then the winner has to make the CFP. If Duke was 18-14 in CBB and won the ACC Basketball Tournament, they’d get an AQ into the tournament. That should be the same for basketball. You can’t sell tickets to a championship game and not have it mean anything. The ACC Championship Game was an all-or-nothing event for Virginia–that’s not fair.
I don’t like “giving” Notre Dame an AQ for being in the top 12–I guess the committees could rig the rankings and put them 13th ifthey don’t want them in. Aren’t we all a bit tired of he Notre Dame grandstanding?
That said, the leaders of CFB clearly value the Notre Dame brand. They’ve never given the Irish an ultimatum, ‘join a conference or else,” and it is also clear that they want ND in the CFP mix. As long as that’s the case, ND is not joining a conference anytime soon. Why would they?
Before we get up up in arms of this preferential treatment, we must remember that this is something that the Big 2 conferences have approved. They believe ND is relevant.
This year’s CFP was great and ended with the greatest story in college football history. I’d love to punch Nick Saban in the face for wearing that Miami hate. Saban ran the caretl for 25 years. He so wanted Miami–a fellow carterl member with 5 championships–to win because the thought of weoful Indiana joining the club was too hard to take.
Think about it–all the years where The Bluebloods hogged the top players with illegal payments was over. As I write hear, when other teams rose up, The Bluebloods found a way to get them sanctioned by the NCAA. UCLA (John Wooden) made sure Jerry Tarkanian was never a true threat in hoops, and the same happened in CFB.
Now, Nicky has to acknoweldge that Curt Cignetti and IU are champions forever!!!
https://johnny228.wordpress.com/2026/01/22/sorry-nick-indiana-has-joined-your-club/