In the College Football Playoffs Era, there’s been plenty of discussion and disagreements on what the proper format should be. Currently, we’re in a 12-team format, but expansion is on the way.
Exactly how many teams will it expand to, though? SEC commissioner Greg Sankey is a proponent of 16 teams, which would create a straight bracket without byes. However, the Big Ten wants to go all the way up to 24, which would include byes.
According to a recent report from Brett McMurphy of On3, SEC athletic directors might not be seeing eye to eye with Sankey, though. He said that the majority of ADs polled prefer more teams than just 16 to be included.
NEW: Majority of SEC athletic directors polled by On3 prefer more teams than Greg Sankey’s 16-team College Football Playoff model🏆
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— On3 (@On3) May 26, 2026
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Tennessee AD Danny White wants to see it go all the way up to 24 teams. He shared his thoughts during an appearance on the Big Orange Caravan last month.
“I’d like to see it go to 24 (teams),” White said, via Newschannel 5’s Steve Layman on X. “I think you look at the percentage of the field in football – it’s significantly less than every other sport that we have. The expanded playoff, I’ve always been an advocate for it, since way before I even came to Tennessee. I thought it would be better for the regular season. There were a lot of naysayers that said it would decimate the regular season. And what happened? We had higher ratings in the regular season than we’ve ever had before, particularly in the back third of the regular season when more teams are in the hunt.
“Which is healthy, and I think we see that in all of our other sports. But, a bigger percentage of SEC teams, a bigger percentage of FBS teams in general, should qualify for the postseason if we’re going to crown our national champion that way. And, we clearly are.”
This upcoming season, it’ll be the 12-team field again. The first round of games will feature the teams seeded 5-12. The higher-seeded team will get home-field advantage for an on-campus game. The winner of those four games will move on to play the top-four seeds, who earned a bye in the playoffs. The bracket is set before the playoffs begin and is not reseeded.
