How Changes to the College Football Playoff Could Impact BYU and the Big 12

Changes are coming to the College Football Playoff, likely beginning in 2026. Ross Dellenger of Yahoo! Sports released a report on Sunday outlining the future changes coming to college football's postseason. In this article, we'll break down those changes and, most importantly, what they would mean for BYU and the Big 12.

What Are the Proposed Changes?

First and foremost, change is coming to the College Football Playoff. It's not a matter of if, but when. "Momentum is building to further expand the playoff to 14 or 16 teams, assign multiple automatic qualifiers per league," Dellenger reported.

In the proposed format, the Big Ten and the SEC would get four automatic bids each per year. The Big 12 and the ACC would get two each, and the Group of Five schools would get one each. There would be either one at-large birth or three at-large births, depending on whether the field expanded to 14 teams or 16 teams.

In this proposed format, conference championship games would need to be reimagined. Would the Big 12, for example, host a championship game for two teams that are already going to the playoff? Probably not. It's more likely that the regular season champion would get an automatic bid to the playoff, and the second and third teams in the standings would play each other for a playoff spot.

Perhaps most importantly, this decision falls into the hands of the Big Ten and the SEC. Those two conferences control the decision making power for the playoff in 2026 and beyond.

The purpose of this article isn't to debate whether it's good for the sport overall, rather how those changes would impact BYU and the Big 12.

The Pros for BYU and the Big 12

There are pros to this proposed playoff for BYU. First and foremost, this would be better guaranteed access than BYU has ever experienced in its history. BYU would have a 1 in 8 chance to make the College Football Playoff.

For a BYU program that was practically shut out from even New Year's Six games just a few years ago, that is a great setup. BYU wouldn't have to worry about the CFP committee rankings or the perception of the Big 12. BYU would control its own destiny to the College Football Playoff.

For the Big 12, two guaranteed spots is more than the one bid the conference got in 2024. The best part about this proposal is that is removes a lot of power from the College Football Playoff committee.

Nobody should distrust the committee more than the Big 12 after the 2024 season. The committee consisted view the Big 12 below its Power Four peers. In this proposed plan, the Big 12 would not have to rely on a committee to get multiple teams in. That's a better position than the one they are faced with today.

The College Football Playoff committee is poison to the long-term health of college football playoff. While the committee would still have the power to seed teams (which is already too much power), it's better than allowing the committee to determine which teams get in and which teams stay home.

The Cons for BYU and the Big 12

There are also obvious cons to this proposal for the Big 12. For a system that already favors the Big Ten and the SEC, giving those two conferences four automatic bids is unnecessary.

In 2024, 9-3 Alabama (fourth place in the SEC) would have received an automatic bid and BYU (third place in the Big 12) would not. Alabama did not have a regular season worthy of an automatic bid, yet they would have been in ahead of BYU. The Crimson Tide followed up their lackluster regular season by losing to a mediocre Michigan team in their bowl game.

A system that gives so much favoritism to the top two conferences could cause long-term damage to the sport. While conferences are so worried about creating more revenue to prepare for the revenue sharing era, they might be causing long-term damage to the college football economy. If the decision makers aren't careful, they could alienate passionate college football fans.

The NBA should be a cautionary tale to college football decision makers. The NBA placed so much value in a long postseason that it devalued the regular season. Now, NBA ratings are tanking (pun intended) and there is more attention on off-court roster moves than what happens on the court.

When 25% of the SEC is guaranteed to make the College Football Playoff, it devalues the regular season. Programs like Georgia and Alabama will start to tune out the regular season and wait for the postseason. That is a slippery slope, and one college football decision makers should treat as a legitimate threat.

An expanded College Football Playoff, if there is fair and equal access, has the power to enhance the regular season. It creates many more regular season games with playoff implications between deserving teams. A system that is unfair will take away from the regular season.

In the opinion of this author, a compromise which guaranteed three automatic births to the SEC and the Big Ten would be more fair. The ACC and the Big 12 could get two each and the Group of Five could get one. That would leave one at-large bid in a 12-team playoff or three in a 14-team playoff.

With the SEC and Big Ten controlling the destiny of the College Football Playoff, it's safe to expect a system that favors those two conferences.