After 16-team playoff drama, CFB insider reveals update on "start over" discussions for 2026 college football playoff format

The 2025 college football season is yet to underway, but the College Football Playoff committee is scratching their heads as they look beyond the upcoming season. For the 2025 season, college football is retaining the 12-team field, but there will be no automatic bids for conference champions.

It means that all teams will be picked based on their rankings provided by the committee by the end of the season.

In 2026, discussions are ongoing on expanding the College Football Playoff to a 16-team field. According to college football insider Brett McMurphy, conference commissioners have decided to “start over” on determining the 2026 playoff format.

However, there's a heated argument going on about the proposed structure for the same.

"Big Ten & SEC initially wanted 4 AQs each w/2 each to ACC & Big 12," McMurphy wrote. "However, ACC & Big 12 pushed back. SEC coaches later publicly did not support 4 AQ model instead preferring 5 AQ+11 at-large format for 16-team playoff as did ACC & Big 12."

Since the SEC hosts the majority of college football powerhouses, their strength of schedule will always have a higher quotient, and therefore, they want more automatic qualification spots in the CFP field.

"However, a source cautioned, even if strength of schedule is supposed to carry more weight w/committee, it still boils down to their opinions on who they think are the best teams," McMurphy wrote.

The final deadline by which the final decision on the playoff structure has to be made is Dec. 1.

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SEC wants more AQ than Big Ten's initially proposed CFP model after backlash

There's no doubt the SEC and the Big Ten are the best conferences among the Power Five schools. The last two national championship winners came from the Big Ten, while the SEC's history in the national championship needs no introduction.

The Big Ten remains firmly in favor of a fixed model that awards four automatic qualifiers (AQs) each to the Big Ten and SEC. However, the SEC, which initially aligned with this model, now wants one extra automatic qualification after backlash from conference coaches. Now, the SEC is advocating for a 5 AQ + 11 at-large model.

According to CBS, this rift stems in part from scheduling disparities — Big Ten and Big 12 play nine conference games, while the ACC and SEC play eight, making SoS comparisons inherently skewed.