Explaining Big Ten, SEC 16-team College Football Playoff proposal; how it would look

There is reportedly 'growing' support for the Big Ten and SEC's expanded playoff proposal, which could begin as early as 2026

The idea of a Big Ten and SEC takeover in the College Football Playoff may soon come to fruition with momentum building toward further expansion, according to Yahoo Sports, featuring a bevy of automatic bids for each conference.

The contract for the 12-team format and its recently-adopted "straight-seeding" model ends after the 2025 season. Power conference commissioners met earlier this month with future playoff formats leading the discussion and "growing" support for the Big Ten and SEC's proposal.

The two leagues reportedly will have significant influence the next round of expansion and how the format plays out given financial ramifications and sole voting power. Under the 16-team proposal, eight auto-bids from the Big Ten and SEC exist — four from each league — along with two ACC qualifiers, two Big 12, one Group of Five and three at-large teams.

SEC spring meetings begin this week with the exploration of a nine-game conference schedule on the front-burner. The only way the SEC would agree to add a ninth conference game would be additional inclusion in future playoff brackets along with the expectation of a bigger payday from its TV partner.

There is also discussion surrounding the Big Ten and SEC holding play-in games during conference championship weekend every year to determine the other auto-bids. Essentially, the two teams who appear in the league title game would be two of the auto-bids with the conference's No. 3 and No. 6 teams deciding another along with a No. 4 vs. No. 5 matchup.

The Big Ten and SEC are also in favor of the idea of a "double-bye" for the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in the bracket. In the proposed 16-team bracket, the first round would consist of two games — the 16th seed against the 13th seed and the 15th seed against the 14th seed.

The winners of those games would move on to the second round, where the 15-14 victor would play the No. 4 seed on its home field and the 16-13 winner would face off with the No. 3 seed on the road. There would be six second-round games overall with the 10-7, 11-6, 9-8 an 12-5 rounding out the slate.

16-team CFP in 2024 with straight seeding, proposed format

Round	Matchup
Round 1	No. 16 Clemson vs. No. 13 Miami
	No. 15 South Carolina vs. No. 14 Ole Miss
Round 2	No. 9 Boise State vs. No. 8 Indiana
	No. 12 Arizona State vs. No. 5 Notre Dame
	No. 15/14 winner vs. No. 4 Penn State
	No. 10 SMU vs. No. 7 Tennessee
	No. 11 Alabama vs. No. 6 Ohio State
	No. 16/13 winner vs. No. 3 Notre Dame
Byes	No. 1 Oregon and No. 2 Georgia

Former Alabama coach Nick Saban is in favor of playoff expansion, endorsing the idea of a 14 or 16-team field in 2026 and beyond.

"Back in the years, I was never for expanding the playoff because I thought bowl games were really important to the history and tradition of college football, but now that we have expanded the playoff, now the bowl games have taken a less significant role," Saban said last week said at a charity event. "So I think expanding the playoff and having as many teams involved as we can without playing too many games for the players -- I think that's a little bit of a concern -- is probably a good thing."

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey pumped the brakes on future expansion being a foregone conclusion for 2026 earlier this year, citing seeding disadvantages as a primary reason. However, that thought process likely changed now that the new seeding model will play out in 2025 and assuredly reward teams who have conquered tough schedules and finish inside the top four.