The conference commissioners and Notre Dame have decided to keep the 12-team college football playoffs again for next year. The Big Ten and the SEC conferences have the sole authority for changing the college football playoffs.
As widely expected, the College Football Playoff is staying at 12 teams for 2026. A formal announcement is set for later today, per ESPN sources. pic.twitter.com/c8JC1VQiI1
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) January 23, 2026
The Big Ten favored expanding the college football playoffs to 24 teams, while the SEC advocated for an expansion to 16 teams. For the 2026 football season, they have decided to stay at 12 teams. This allows teams to make the college football playoffs if they earn it in the regular season. This is the right decision for the sport.
For most of College Football history, pollsters decided who won National Championships. Then it went to the BCS, where the computers picked two teams to play in the BCS Championship Game. Then, a 4 team College Football Playoff was created. Now we have 12 teams. If you expand the College Football Playoffs too much, it could lead to a watered-down playoff where regular-season games do not matter.
The other part of the process is how they decide the College Football Playoff format; people will get angry. It's part of sport. College Football is a tribal sport where every conference and team loves to argue about who is better. It is what drives the sport and why everyone cares so deeply about it. The downside is that it leads to complaints about who should be included in the College Football Playoff.
The other part of the College Football Playoff debate is that the SEC Conference is now going to 9 conference games. They are following the Big Ten, Big 12, and ACC, all of which have 9 conference games. This will create an equal system where every team will have the same number of conference games. This will hurt the SEC, and those 10-2 teams might be 9-3 teams. It will be harder for the SEC teams to make the College Football Playoffs, but it seems like a fair resolution.
The 12-team playoff is also a new playoff for College Football. We have had only two years of it, so it makes sense to give it a few more years of existence. With all the changes in college football happening, it makes sense to keep the 12-team playoff for now. NIL has become a fixture of college football. The transfer portal creates an open free agency in college football. You also had a College Football Playoff for the 1st time. It is a common-sense approach to keep the 12-team playoffs for now.