When the College Football Playoff expanded from 4 teams to 12 teams, everyone thought the new 12 team model would be here to stay for at least a decade like we saw with the 4 team model. Instead, the topic of the offseason after only one season in this format has been expanding the playoff once again. The only true change that has been made was moving to straight seeding rather than what everyone saw last season where Conference Champions were given higher seeds.
The reason that the Playoff didn't expand this offseason despite every conference agreeing it should is because the Conference Commissioners couldn't agree on what they wanted. The most popular model has been the 5+11 model which gives each Power 4 Conference Champion an automatic bid as well as one Non Power 4 conference a bid before taking the 11 best at-large bids.
The SEC and the Big 12 support the model but, the Big Ten hasn't been willing to make the move for one reason. Tony Petitti feels that the SEC should move to a schedule with 9 SEC games but, Greg Sankey seemed unwilling. This topic has been the sole reason expansion has been slow but, everyone may finally get the resolution they want.
According to Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports, this week the SEC executives moved closer to the nine league game schedule which is massive news.
In meetings this week, SEC executives moved closer to adopting a nine-game conference football schedule, sources tell @YahooSports. A decision remains with presidents, who are expected to meet soon on the issue.
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) August 21, 2025
If the SEC makes the move to a nine-game league schedule, it'll be a massive win for the sport and the fans. The College Football schedule would get another week of meaningful games rather than the SEC beating up on schools that don't belong on the same field. Moving to 9 games can help bring back some of the rivalries that were lost when the SEC added Oklahoma and Texas.
The move would also make expanding the College Football Playoff much easier than it has been this offseason. With the "Super Leagues" of the SEC and Big Ten both playing 9 league games, finding a model that better suits both leagues is much easier and should allow a resolution to be reached.
The ball is in the court of the school presidents and if they approve the change, it'll give us a chance to finally have a format for the Playoff rather than continued discussions.
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