New College Football Playoff rule that nobody knew about surfaces

As it has for the past couple of years, the College Football Playoff format will see a slight tweak in 2026.

Last season marked the first-ever 12-team playoff, with the four top-ranked conference champions earning the top four seeds and byes. That format was adjusted for this 2025 season, with the top four seeds and bye weeks going to the top teams regardless of whether or not they won their respective conference.

Next year's playoff will remain at 12 teams despite chatter of a possible expansion to 16, but unlike in years past, every Power 4 champion will get an automatic bid. So a team like Duke, which won the ACC but was left out because it had five losses, would have made it. In addition to that change, there seemed to be some fine print regarding the Group of 6 bid that was just brought to light this week.

As confirmed by The Athletic's Chris Vannini, the Group of 6 playoff spot isn't reserved for a conference champion, but just the team the committee views as the best.

"In a previously unreported College Football Playoff change, the Group of 6 spot in 2026 does NOT have to be a conference champion," wrote Vannini. "It's just the highest-ranked G6 team, a change some G6 leaders didn't even realize until recently."

Vannini revealed that they were told by multiple Group of 6 leaders that they didn't "recall much, if any," conversations about this rule being a possibility, let alone it being implemented.

Wide shot of the College Football First Round logo at on field. | Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

While this may protect a top-tier team from having their playoff hopes dashed if they lose in the conference championship game, it could also take away from the importance of that very championship game.

Reasons that Vannini confirmed that the Group of 6 officials may attempt to push for a revision in the future.

"Multiple G6 leaders said they plan to discuss the topic with each other later this year, including the possibility of asking for a change to that language, given how the 12-team CFP has played out thus far," wrote Vannini.

The Group of 6 has seen three teams make the 12-team College Football Playoff over the past two years, while also seeing Cincinnati make it during the four-team era. With that being said, there were some frustrations during this year's playoff about both Tulane and James Madison being included, as many felt that teams like Notre Dame and Texas should have gotten the nod over at least one of them.

Although it's interesting that this change went undetected, it's hard to imagine that there won't be any more changes in the future.