Let’s just say it—conference championship games might’ve just lost their purpose.
The College Football Playoff is changing again, and this time it’s not just a minor tweak. Starting in the 2025-26 season, the CFP will no longer guarantee first-round byes to conference champions. Instead, those coveted byes will go to the top four teams regardless of conference affiliation. Yes, the top five conference champs still get automatic berths—but they’re no longer in line for any special treatment beyond just showing up.
So here's the question: why would any program in playoff contention want to risk everything in a conference title game that no longer offers a real advantage?
The Risk Just Doesn’t Match the Reward
Imagine you're an undefeated or one-loss SEC team, sitting at No. 2 in the CFP rankings going into December. You’ve navigated one of the toughest schedules in the country and are staring at a guaranteed playoff spot. But now you’re forced to play another top-ten team in the conference championship game—just for the sake of hoisting another trophy?
Lose that game, and your seeding could drop. In a worst-case scenario, you could fall far enough to lose that lost first-round bye. Honestly, the same could be said for any conference, even the ACC or Big Ten.
For the Big Ten, SEC, or any conference with multiple teams in the CFP conversation, this becomes a nightmare scenario. You’re setting your own teams up to cannibalize each other.
Let the Regular Season Do the Talking
If the Playoff is all about ranking the best teams, then why not let the regular season determine who your conference champ is?
Go back to how things used to be—your record in conference play determines the champ. If two teams are tied, use head-to-head or division record as a tiebreaker. Clean, simple, and—most importantly—it keeps your top teams from risking unnecessary damage in December.
The irony here is that the original idea behind conference championship games was to give the sport more clarity. But with the 12-team field and straight seeding, it now just adds chaos and potential heartbreak.
CFP Has Made the Title Game a Trap
The 2025-26 changes were driven by the SEC and Big Ten getting more power, and we all know those two conferences will be loading up the field anyway. The best-case scenario for them is to get multiple teams in with favorable seeds—and not have them knock each other out before Selection Sunday.
When the ACC, Big 12, or even the expanded Group of Five conferences play their title games, they’re now doing so knowing that a win doesn’t boost you nearly as much as a loss could hurt you. How is that fair?
It’s like playing Russian Roulette with your own playoff résumé. And for what? A slightly bigger trophy and a logo patch?
You might be thinking, “But what about the money from the game?” And yeah, that’s real. Conference title games pull strong TV numbers. But you know what pulls bigger numbers? Playoff games with better matchups. You get those better matchups by not risking your top teams in one last battle that’s more about tradition than utility.
And let’s be honest: if college football wants to be serious about parity and giving its best teams the best shot at the national title, it should stop forcing them to prove their worth in an exhibition that only opens the door for disaster.