Report: 14-Team CFP Format Being Discussed; SEC, Big Ten Would Get 3 Automatic Bids

A 12-team College Football Playoff field with the 5-7 format is set in stone for 2024 and 2025, but the door is open for changes in 2026.

With that in mind, there's been some talk about a 14-team playoff beginning in 2026, and it would notably feature the Big Ten and SEC getting three automatic bids apiece.

Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports provided more information:

"In a format being socialized among major conference administrators, the Big Ten and SEC would each receive three automatic qualifiers into a 14-team field, with the ACC and Big 12 getting two each and the Group of Five's best team qualifying as well. Such a model would feature three at-large spots to the highest-ranked teams outside of the automatic qualifiers."

Dellenger cautioned that the proposal "is nowhere near finalized and is not the only format option that emerged from a meeting last week of the CFP Management Committee."

Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated reported the Big Ten proposed getting four bids in the 14-team field.

The next two years will see the five highest-ranked conference champions make the CFP. The remaining seven spots will be filled by teams through at-large berths.

Obviously, the rather large elephant in the room with the new proposal is that the SEC and Big Ten would have a huge leg up on the playoff competition in college athletics' most popular sport.

While those two leagues will have 16 and 18 teams now respectively, the Big 12 and ACC have 33 total. Granted, the former two leagues sport teams who have historically done better in football, but the Big 12 and ACC still face an unideal situation here.

Dellenger spoke on the matter as a Power Two clearly forms in the post-Power Five era.

"The SEC and Big Ten, swelling to a combined 34 members with some of the sport's biggest brands, are jockeying for more access than other leagues," Dellenger wrote. "The format reflects the growing gap between the new tier in the sport: the Power Two and all others."

The Big Ten and SEC initially proposed four automatic berths apiece for their leagues, per Dellenger, so the "3-3-2-2-1 format is seen as a compromise."

For now, though, the CFP will see its biggest field ever when the size triples from four to 12 in 2024.