The two biggest leagues in college football, the Big Ten Conference and the Southeastern Conference, reportedly wanted and then secured all the power to make decisions over future College Football Playoff expansions.
It’s ironic that these two behemoths were granted that power in decision-making over CFP expansion, but they can’t seem to agree on anything.
This highlights the giant egos of both leagues, On3’s Brett McMurphy noted in a piece in which one industry source said of the two egomaniacs, “it’s disgusting.”
On Jan. 23, the CFP management committee announced that the 12-team format would remain in place for the 2026 season, even though all 10 conference commissioners at the FBS level and Notre Dame athletics director Pete Bevacqua preferred that the event expand in 2026, according to McMurphy.
So everyone wanted an expansion, but an expansion isn’t happening? That makes no sense whatsoever.
The Big Ten, SEC are reportedly preventing CFP expansion
Here’s the issue. Per McMurphy, the Big Ten is in favor of a 24-team CFP field. The Big Ten, by the way, has captured the past three national championships: Michigan, then Ohio State and, this past season, the Indiana Hoosiers.
The SEC, which had won six of eight national titles immediately before the three straight from the Big Ten, advocates for a 16-team field with five automatic bids and 11 at-large berths. According to McMurphy, the other eight FBS conferences want the 16-team model, too, but they don’t possess decision-making authority.
In the upcoming season, regardless of their final CFP ranking, every Power Four conference champion will get an automatic bid. The highest-rated Group of Six team (regardless of whether it is a conference champion or not) will also receive an automatic invite.
Notre Dame is automatically in the College Football Playoff, so long as the Fighting Irish finishes in the top 12 of the CFP rankings. The above changes were agreed to by the FBS commissioners two years ago, when the Big Ten and the SEC were given all the power.
And it is those two super conferences that “can’t work together because of their egos,” an industry source told McMurphy.
How ironic. And pathetic.
.webp?ssl=1 "All the key moments from the 2026 Chinese Grand Prix as Kimi Antonelli takes maiden win and Lewis Hamilton secures first Ferrari podium")
