The day before Indiana became the third consecutive Big Ten team to win the College Football Playoff, conference commissioners met at a hotel in Miami Beach to discuss the future format of the postseason.
Nothing was finalized at that meeting. Barring a sudden agreement to expand the playoff before Friday’s deadline, the playoff will likely remain at 12 teams for a third season in 2026.
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Expansion is broadly viewed as a good idea among college football’s leadership. Both the SEC and the Big Ten want to enlarge the field. But the two power brokers can’t figure out how the playoff should expand. The SEC wants 16 teams. The Big Ten wants 24 to make the playoff.
Why?
It’s a great question, especially as the conference has followed the SEC’s four-year title streak with championships by Michigan, Ohio State and now Indiana, the greatest story in modern college football history. Why does the Big Ten want to mess with a good thing?
The easiest answer is, of course, money. More CFP games equals more TV money and more Big Ten teams in the playoff equals more TV money for the conference. But no matter the format, a 24-team playoff would provide more opportunities for Big Ten teams to lose before making the title game. The Big Ten’s idea could derail its dominance if it came to fruition.
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In the era of mega-sized conferences and no divisions, it’s undeniable that most title contenders have schedule-based advantages during the regular season. In the 18-team Big Ten, teams play just over half of the conference. Just four games were played among the five Big Ten teams that were in the top 20 of the Dec. 7 AP poll. And either Michigan or USC were involved in three of those games.
Neither made the playoff, while Indiana, Ohio State and Oregon were all seeded inside the top five and the Ducks joined the Hoosiers in the semifinals.
While more spots in the playoff will undoubtedly create more opportunities for Big Ten teams, the conference doesn’t need to be getting three- and four-loss teams into the playoff to simply fill the field.
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Over the first two years of the 12-team playoff, the Big Ten has secured seven of the 24 available spots and occupied four of the eight spots in the semifinals. And when Michigan won the title in the final four-team playoff two seasons ago, it did so by beating a Washington team that’s now a part of the Big Ten itself.
With the possible exception of Indiana a season ago, each of the Big Ten’s playoff teams have entered the 12-team postseason with a credible national title argument.
In this case, quality is far better than quantity. Given the new college football landscape, Indiana is now positioned at the top with Oregon and Ohio State for the foreseeable future while Penn State, Michigan and USC are hanging around on the playoff periphery. The Big Ten is in an incredibly advantageous spot already. It shouldn’t squander that opportunity just to make the playoff even bigger.
