SANDESTIN, Florida — The College Football Playoff’s power players are locked in a showdown on the future format of the postseason tournament, and High Noon is fast approaching.
The CFP’s executives have conducted several meetings over the last several months to attempt to finalize the format for the 2026 postseason and beyond. The lack of unanimity in discussions has led to an alliance between the ACC and Big 12 to counter the Big Ten and SEC’s power. The nature of the arrangement, as was described to CBS Sports, sets the stage for a showdown between two wildly different 16-team formats.
During an in-person meeting of power conference heavy-hitters on May 15, reps from the ACC and Big 12 presented a 16-team playoff proposal that would reward automatic berths to the five highest-ranked conference champions with 11 at-large spots. Sources tell CBS Sports the ACC and Big 12 prefer the 5+11 format over the one floated by the Big Ten and SEC: a 4-4-2-2-1 format that would reward four automatic-qualifiers for the Big Ten and SEC, two for the ACC and Big 12, one for the highest ranked Group of Six champion and three at-large teams.
The Big Ten and SEC’s discussions have happened internally and have yet to be socialized formally with the four autonomous conferences or the CFP Management Committee.
“We’re not committed at this point to something,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said Monday evening, the day before his conference’s annual spring meetings.
One factor behind the Big Ten and SEC’s format preference is that it paves the way for lucrative playoff play-in games in each power conference. Both the Big Ten and SEC would send their top two teams — both in the conference championship game — to the playoff, and would schedule play-in games…
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