College Football Playoff will remain at 12 teams in 2026 as Big Ten, SEC fail to reach resolution

The College Football Playoff will remain at 12 teams in 2026 after the Big Ten and the SEC failed to reach a resolution regarding any future formats, sources tell CBS Sports' John Talty and Brandon Marcello. The Big Ten prefers a 24-team field with multiple automatic qualifiers per conference while the SEC is partial to a 16-team "5+11" format. 

Under the SEC's proposed model, which has the backing of the ACC and Big 12, guaranteed bids would go to the five highest-ranked conference champions. The Big Ten has also explored the possibility of a 24-team model with only one automatic bid that goes to the highest-ranked Group of Six champion. The other 23 spots would be occupied by automatic qualifiers. 

Sources told CBS Sports that the Big Ten was willing to commit to a 16-team field in the interim if other conferences agreed to shift to one of the proposed 24-team formats down the line. 

The second season of the 12-team format wrapped up Monday with Indiana beating Miami to win the national championship. 

"There's no momentum to expand just for the sake of expanding," a power conference executive told CBS Sports' Brandon Marcello. "There's this notion that college sports are really good about being reactionary and taking a short-term gain and not looking at the long-term implications of it."

The CFP management committee is tweaking the 12-team format in 2026. Now each of the Power Four champions are guaranteed a spot in the field regardless of where they are ranked at season's end. Notre Dame is also guaranteed an at-large bid if it finishes anywhere inside the top 12 of the final CFP rankings. Duke won the ACC championship with an 8-5 record in 2025 but did not qualify for the playoff after it was left out of the top 25. Notre Dame was the first team out of the 2025 field at No. 11. 

The Big Ten and the SEC have controlling interest in any adjustments to the playoff format. The ACC and the Big 12 are still pushing for equal access, including automatic qualifiers, for each of the Power Four conferences. 

Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said in October that he would be open to discussing a 24-team format, though he prefers the 16-team model, while Jim Phillips of the ACC has been staunch in his support of a 16-team "5+11" format. 

The Big Ten has won three straight College Football Playoff National Championships (Michigan in 2023, Ohio State in 2024 and Indiana in 2025), while the SEC has not reached the CFP title game since Georgia beat TCU to cap the 2022 season. Miami represented the ACC in the 2025-26 national title game.