Report: College Football Playoff Auto Byes for SEC, Big Ten Champs 'Losing Steam'

While the College Football Playoff is nearing expansion to 14 teams in 2026, the proposed idea to give the SEC and Big Ten Champions guaranteed byes is "starting to lose some steam" per ESPN's Heather Dinich.

As momentum picked up for a 14-team College Football Playoff, a proposed 3-3-2-2-1 model featured three automatic spots for the Big Ten and SEC—two of those spots belonging to the conference champions, which would earn two first-round byes.

Dinich noted that the details for the 14-team playoff likely won't be determined ahead of the TV contract, which is on target to be completed in the coming weeks. The 14-team playoff format has received support, but there have still been discussions about how teams should qualify.

"Commissioners are still debating whether conferences should have automatic qualifiers and, if so, how many for each," Dinich wrote. "ESPN recently reported that the Big Ten and SEC had asked that their respective conference champions receive the only two byes in a 14-team field -- an unpopular proposal that was met with significant pushback."

After using the four-team model since its inception in 2014, the College Football Playoff will shift to 12 teams for the first time in the 2024 season. The four highest-ranked conference champions will earn the top four seeds and receive a first-round bye. The first round will consist of the No. 5 through No. 12 seeds.

In all 10 of the past College Football Playoffs, either an SEC or Big Ten team was featured. There has been just one season where just one of the conferences made an appearance. Eight of the 10 CFP winners have hailed from either the SEC or the Big Ten, and a conference other than the SEC or Big Ten hasn't won since 2018.

The two conferences' success has not influenced coaches around the NCAA on the idea of automatic byes, though. TCU head coach Sonny Dykes, who led the CFP title game in 2022, ripped the idea of giving the SEC and Big Ten automatic first-round byes last week.

"Automatic first-round byes for the Big Ten and SEC is like the NFL saying the Cowboys get a first-round bye since they have more fans than the Bengals," Dykes said. "How preposterous is that?"