Big Ten looking to expand College Football Playoff to 28 teams, per report
From the original four-team format that was introduced in 2014, we have since expanded to 12 teams. Even since that expansion a year ago, there have already been some minor tweaks, including adjustments to seeding. Initially, the four highest-ranked conference champions in the rankings received first-round byes; however, this has since been changed to apply to the four highest-ranked teams, regardless of whether they won their conference or not.
There have been discussions about potentially expanding the playoffs further in 2026, possibly to 14 or 16 teams. However, news on Saturday morning indicated that the Big Ten Conference is looking to take it even further, potentially expanding to 24 or 28 teams.
According to ESPN, the Big Ten is considering this model, which would give them and the SEC a total of seven automatic qualifiers each, while the ACC and Big 12 would each receive five AQs. This would also leave two auto bids for the non-Power 4 conferences and two at-large teams.
ESPN also reports that 20 games in this playoff would be played on campus, and then traditional bowl game settings would be utilized after that.
We are still in the very early stages of this proposal, so we will continue to monitor it over the coming months and see if the 28-team format gains momentum.
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