College Football Playoff’s move to 5+7 model improves regular season, adds intrigue to first-round matchups

The College Football Playoff Board of Managers met Tuesday and unanimously approved a change to the 12-team format, flipping one spot previously reserved for a conference champion into an at-large bid. The new model, which will feature five automatic qualifiers for the highest-ranked conference champions plus seven at-large bids (5+7), was the right move by the CFP in the wake of the Pac-12’s implosion back in August 2023. 

When the 6+6 model was approved in December 2022, the Pac-12 figured prominently in the forecast for future playoffs. Programs like Washington and Oregon made playoff appearances in the four-team field and teams like Utah and USC qualified for New Year’s Six bowls in recent years. But now that 10 of the conference’s 12 schools are moving to the Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC later this summer, the landscape has changed. 

The move from 6+6 to 5+7 was critical to maintaining the intended balance of the 12-team field while adding intrigue to both the regular season and the CFP’s first on-campus first round. Yes, it comes at the expense of opportunities being taken from a conference champion, but the 5+7 format promises higher-ranked teams and better matchups while also providing every FBS team in a conference a shot at the national title. 

Keeping 6+6 changes original intention of CFP

There was a period of time when the Pac-12’s demise appeared to be a win for the Group of Five conferences. The American, Mountain West, Sun Belt, Conference USA and the MAC agreed to the 6+6 format knowing they would likely be competing for one playoff spot among them, similar to how things previously worked for the New Year’s Six bowls. But heading into 2024, there are only four power conferences in college football, and a 6+6 format would have increased the access for the conference champions from those leagues. 

But staying at 6+6 would have been a breakaway from the intended balance in the field. Six automatic bids between 10 FBS conferences allowed for automatic playoff access to a majority of leagues. It also more or less fell in line with how the selection committee has ranked teams throughout the 10-year history of the four-team playoff. 

But with nine FBS conferences, six automatic bids would have changed the balance of the bracket and put another conference champion into the field. Finding the next-best conference champion after the New Year’s Six representative is much…