Massive expansion could be on its way to the College Football Playoff, as ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported on Saturday that the Big Ten has “begun populating” a format that could include 24 or 28 teams.
The proposed format would eliminate conference championship games and would give out many auto bids to Power Four teams.
Thamel said in the 28-team format, the Big Ten and SEC would each get seven auto bids, while the ACC and Big 12 would receive five auto bids, two auto bids would be for non-power conference teams and the other two spots would go to at-large teams.
This new model is only the latest one to be proposed this offseason. A 4-4-2-2-1 model that would give four automatic bids to both the Big Ten and the SEC, two automatic bids to both the Big 12 and the ACC and an automatic bid to a non-power conference team, has reportedly had the support of the Big Ten this offseason, while some within the SEC have favored a 5+11 model that would only give automatic bids to the five highest-ranked conference champions.
