Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark has become the loudest supporter of a 5+11 format for the College Football Playoff in 2026 and beyond.
The proposed format of a 16-team playoff consisting of five automatic qualifiers for conference champions and 11 at-large bids was Yormark’s top talking point Tuesday to start Big 12 Media Days in Frisco, Texas.
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“We continue to believe the 5+11 model proposed by the Big 12 and the ACC is the right playoff format for college football. We want to earn it on the field,” Yormark said. “We do not need a professional model because we are not the NFL. We are college football, and we must act like it. There is nothing in sports like college football, and we must protect what makes it special and do what’s right for the fans and the game.”
As the conference is presently constructed, the 5+11 model would be disastrous for its interests. Yormark acknowledged as much in terms of the immediate future.
“It might not be the best solution today for the Big 12,” he said. “But long term, knowing the progress we’re making, the investments we’re making, it’s the right format for us, and I’m doubling down today on 5+11.”
Yormark is forgoing a guaranteed two spots for the Big 12 under the SEC and Big 10’s proposed model. In doing so, he hopes the Big 12 can earn more, as he said, on the field. However, he is risking the chance that it only gets one.
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He said the Big 12 is the deepest conference in college football. That may be true, but when the goal is to be best represented in the playoff, it’s the top-heavy conferences that flourish.
If 11 at-large bids are to be determined by the selection committee, then Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Michigan, a Group of 5 champion and Notre Dame would essentially be mainstays in the CFP. Aside from its champions, the other Big 12 and ACC schools would be fighting for the two remaining spots among each other and with schools such as Tennessee, Indiana and Ole Miss. The Big 12 and ACC are going to lose the strength-of-schedule argument every time in the committee room.
With that in mind, Yormark said it’s “critical” for one or two teams to emerge as perennial playoff contenders.
“That’s what we’re working toward,” he said. “And it starts with parity and being competitive top to bottom, and I think we’re there … but I do believe longterm you need certain schools to emerge to the top.”
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Parity does not typically lead to one or two teams rising above the rest. As seen in most other sports, chiefly in the NFL (no pun intended), parity begets more parity.
Still, Yormark has high expectations for his conference this year.
“I fully expect the Big 12 to earn multiple College Football Playoff bids this year and to show once again that we can compete with anyone,” Yormark said.
That is possible – highly unlikely, but possible. More often than not, however, the Big 12 will have one CFP team. Yormark will have nobody to blame but himself.
Marcus Trevino is a sports reporter for The Stillwater News Press. He can be contacted at mtrevino@stwnewspress.com.
