2026 12 Team CFP

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Those rules would’ve put Duke and Notre dame in and left out James Madison and Miami


I actually like it because it incentivizes conferences to build better schedules that actually end with the best team winning the conference
 

Some guy said:
Those rules would’ve put Duke and Notre dame in and left out James Madison and Miami


I actually like it because it incentivizes conferences to build better schedules that actually end with the best team winning the conference
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I think conferences are going to have to evaluate and change some tie breakers for their conference championship games. Possibly needs some SOS schedule component.

Or do you have teams that are guaranteed the CFP sit out the Conference Championship game?
 

MaxyJR1 said:
I think conferences are going to have to evaluate and change some tie breakers for their conference championship games. Possibly needs some SOS schedule component.

Or do you have teams that are guaranteed the CFP sit out the Conference Championship game?
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Don’t you have to win the conference championship to be guaranteed?
 



Some guy said:
Those rules would’ve put Duke and Notre dame in and left out James Madison and Miami


I actually like it because it incentivizes conferences to build better schedules that actually end with the best team winning the conference
Click to expand...
Might be what causes the end of conf championship games.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
I think conferences are going to have to evaluate and change some tie breakers for their conference championship games. Possibly needs some SOS schedule component.

Or do you have teams that are guaranteed the CFP sit out the Conference Championship game?
Click to expand...
What you do is you break the conference into two groups and have the two group play round robin. So you guarantee your best team doesn’t miss the conference title game due to SOS


Some call this divisions
I don’t think you do divisions. I think you could have two teams from the same group in the conference title game.
I think you could change the two groups every year.

At 18
Two groups.
Play 8 in your group and one from the other group (can use the one to preserve rivalries if teams are in opposite groups)
Or
3 groups of 6
Play your 5
Play 2 at random from each of the other two groups.

Again the groups could change every year

At 20
4 groups of 5
Play your whole group plus and entire other group.

At 24
Becomes tougher with just 9 conference games.
 

btowngopher said:
Might be what causes the end of conf championship games.
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I think the big ten wanted a set number of auto bids by conference so they could have 5 play 6 for the 5th bid in lieu of a conference title game

Go back to split titles


They also wanted a set number of auto bids so they could expand to 10-11 conference games without hurting their playoff chances
 




Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0 said:
Agreed. Not much incentive to schedule many p4 teams outside of the ACC requirement.
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Not sure I agree

If they go 10-2 next year and SMU is an 8-4 team I don’t think they’ll be top 12

They were top 12 at 10-2 this year because they lost to two top 10 teams and had wins against a team that tied for conference champ game (Boise state), a top 18 team (USC), and a team in the tie for the ACC title game appearance (Pitt), and another team that was 11-1 outside of the Notre dame game (Navy)


If boise state and USC were both 6-6 they’re probably rated around 16 rather than 10
 
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I guess most years if ND was a top 12 team they’d be getting in as a at large anyways. Really only affects the rare occasions where they end up 11th or 12th.
 

I really like this change. Probably the best iteration of the twelve-team playoff in terms of seeding.
 

btowngopher said:
I guess most years if ND was a top 12 team they’d be getting in as a at large anyways. Really only affects the rare occasions where they end up 11th or 12th.
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I think it being a controversy is pretty much a lock any time Notre dame is 10-2

If they’re 11-1 they’ll be firmly in
9-3 firmly out


How often will Notre dame go 10-2?
 







MaxyJR1 said:
They want 24 and auto bids and biggest thing they want is more Media bidding on the games outside of ESPN.
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Agree

I don’t think 16 makes sense


I think opening up the playoff to a multinetowrk bid makes sense at 12, 16, 24
 

Some guy said:
I actually like it because it incentivizes conferences to build better schedules that actually end with the best team winning the conference
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Can you explain more? If there are better schedules, doesn't that muddy the waters? I guess what I mean is, when these conferences last expanded people on here were talking that top teams were gonna have to get used to more losses because now Texas and Oklahoma are in the SEC waters, Oregon and USC here, etc.

But maybe there's an angle I'm missing?
 

GopherTheJugular said:
Can you explain more? If there are better schedules, doesn't that muddy the waters? I guess what I mean is, when these conferences last expanded people on here were talking that top teams were gonna have to get used to more losses because now Texas and Oklahoma are in the SEC waters, Oregon and USC here, etc.

But maybe there's an angle I'm missing?
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I am saying in the 2026 playoff Duke and notre dame would bump out Miami and Alabama


And the ACC should design a schedule to have their best team (Miami) win the conference and make the playoff rather than their 3rd or 4th best team (Duke)

Because the ACC made the national title game whereas Duke probably loses by 25 @ Oregon



I get what you’re saying and agree with you. But I’m talking about something else.
 

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