For months now, it’s been public knowledge that the Big Ten is in favor of a 24-team College Football Playoff.
And thanks to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, we now know the specifics of what the conference has in mind.
On Friday, the ESPN college football insider published details from the Big Ten’s proposal, which calls for a doubling of the current 12-team College Football Playoff field by no later than 2029. Most notably, the internal document calls for the elimination of conference championship games, while adding an extra week of on-campus playoff games via the expanded field.
As for how the 24 teams would be selected, the Big Ten is proposing a 23+1 model consisting of the country’s 23-best teams with one spot reserved for the Group of 6. There would be no automatic qualifiers, which Thamel reports would be less of a priority for the Big Ten should the playoff field expand to 24 teams.
From there, the top eight teams would receive first-round byes, with eight first-round games being played on college campuses followed by eight second-round on-campus games. That would mark a significant change from the current model, in which the top four teams receive byes to the quarterfinals, which are hosted by traditional bowl games.
Ideally, the 24-team tournament would start in the second week of December, giving college football Friday and Saturday to avoid competition against the NFL. The proposal calls for the quarterfinals to take place at bowl sites on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, with the semifinals and title game occurring in the ensuing weeks.
Another wrinkle: the Big Ten’s proposed model calls for no regular-season rematches to take place in the first round. In-conference matchups could, however, occur if the two teams didn’t already play that particular season.
As for the timeline of all of this, that’s where things get a little bit messy. The Big Ten had reportedly been OK with the playoff expanding to 16 teams for the 2026 season if the SEC would agree to an eventual move to 24 teams — a stalemate that resulted in the CFP remaining at 12 teams for at least one more year.
Still, the document obtained by Thamel indicates that the Big Ten would be on-board with expanding the playoff to 16 teams in 2027 and 2028 before implementing its proposed 24-model in 2029. At this point, it appears the conference is still trying to get the SEC on board. But at least we now know what the league is pitching when it comes what would undoubtedly be a seismic shift for the entire college football landscape.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.