We all knew that the College Football Playoff was likely going to expand from four teams to 12 teams after the 2023 season, giving a much larger product to consumers and television networks and creating more revenue.
What we didn’t know, however, was that the changing college football landscape would leave us with a completely different shape of the sport going into the 2024 season, with new teams in different conferences, and the geographical element of the college football we once knew blown to smithereens.
This conference realignment that ultimately led to the death of a Power 5 conference in the Pac-12 has left the College Football Playoff committee in an interesting place, with speculation about how they would change their qualifying process in the future. Before the latest round of conference realignment, the plan was for a 6+6 model to be used, where the top six-ranked conference champions — from the Power 5 and one Group of 5 — would get automatic bids into the playoff, with the next six spots going to the remaining top-ranked teams.
Now, with only four “power” conferences remaining, the CFP has had to change their model.
On Tuesday, it was announced that going forward, the playoff would use a 5+7 model, which will leave the conference champions from the four power conferences — SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC — and the highest-ranked Group of 5 conference champion with automatic bids, and the other seven playoff spots going to the remaining highest-ranked teams.
The CFP unanimously revised the qualifying criteria for the 12-team event to now include the 5 highest-ranked conference champs, plus the next 7 highest-ranked teams as determined by CFP. The original plan was 6 highest-ranked league champs plus the next 6 highest-ranked teams.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) February 20, 2024
The revision was passed unanimously, according to Bruce Feldman.
There seems to be a good chance that the Oregon Ducks will be a part of the first…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Football | Ducks Wire…