College football’s playoff setup is on the move again, and this time the changes trace back to a deal cut long before anyone saw a full 12-team bracket play out.
For the fourth straight year, the College Football Playoff will look different. The 2026 version may not seem dramatic at first glance, but the tweaks would have reshaped last season’s field.
Duke would have gotten in as the ACC champion and No. 12 seed, while James Madison would have been pushed out. Notre Dame also would have landed an automatic berth at No. 11 and knocked out Miami, the No. 10 team that beat the Irish and later reached the national championship game.
This year’s format gives automatic bids to the Power 4 champions and the highest-ranked Group of 6 team, even if that team is not a conference champion. Notre Dame is also in line for a guaranteed spot if it finishes in the top 12 of the final rankings.
That setup is not a response to last year’s controversy or to the fact the Group of 5 ended up with two bids. It was agreed to in the spring of 2024, before the first 12-team CFP ever kicked off, during negotiations for the new contract.
The old 12-year agreement ran from 2014 through 2025, and once it expired, everything was up for grabs: format, television, and revenue distribution. The Big Ten and SEC entered those talks with real leverage after major realignment changes, and there was even the sense they could go their own way if the deal didn’t suit them. The other conferences accepted a lopsided arrangement to stay inside the system.
As Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark told The Athletic this spring, “I’m a very different commissioner than I was (then), and I’m not sure I would have made the same decision,”
That agreement handed the SEC and Big Ten the ability to shape the bracket size going forward. The only fixed pieces were the four automatic bids for Power 4 champions and one spot for the Group of 6, and that language takes effect this season under the six-year contract that runs through 2031. Some Group of 6 leaders didn’t even realize until January that the automatic berth does not have to go to a conference champion.
The money split also tilted heavily toward the two biggest leagues. Under the previous setup, the then-Power 5 conferences shared 80 percent of the money about equally.
Now the SEC and Big Ten will each receive roughly 29 percent of CFP revenue, more than $21 million per school. The ACC’s share is about 17 percent, or around $13 million per school.
The Big 12 gets 15 percent, or about $12 million each. The Group of 6 conferences will divide nine percent, which comes to around $1.8 million per school, with Oregon State and Washington State getting more.
Those figures were based on each league’s past CFP appearances, adjusted for realignment.
Notre Dame’s arrangement is different. The Irish will get more than $12 million annually, including a $6 million bump for making the field, which puts their payout close to Big Ten and SEC levels in years they qualify. Teams will no longer earn extra performance bonuses for advancing deeper into the bracket.
Notre Dame’s carve-out comes down to leverage. Neither the Big Ten nor the SEC wants the Irish in their league, and athletic director Pete Bevacqua has longstanding ties to Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti and SEC commissioner Greg Sankey from his earlier work in television.
They helped set the terms of the new deal. Every team now has a threshold for an automatic bid except UConn, and that top-12 cutoff could once again put the selection committee in a tough spot with Notre Dame.
The bigger picture is that college football is living with decisions made in 2024, before anyone had real evidence on how a 12-team playoff would actually work. At the time, expansion conversations were centered on a 14-team field.
That idea has since been shelved, and attention has shifted to 16-team or 24-team models. In a larger field, a top-12 auto-bid for Notre Dame would lose much of its bite.
So the 2026 playoff may not be the last word. It could just be another stop on the way to the next format, if the SEC and Big Ten ever settle on one more bracket overhaul.
In Other News...
Notre Dame Opens Season With Adon Shuler Facing Heartbreaking Loss
Notre Dame is heading into its 2026 opener against Wisconsin with a heavy off-field burden hanging over one of its most important defenders. Adon Shuler, a two-time team captain and a key piece of the secondary, is dealing with the death of his father, Don Shuler, whose passing was announced by the family on social media.
For a player whose leadership role has made him central to the Irish defense, the timing adds a deeply personal layer to the start of the season. No public arrangements for Don Shuler had been announced at the time of the report, leaving the program and its supporters to navigate the opening of camp and the first game week with the Shuler family foremost in mind. [Read more 🡒]
Notre Dame Camp Buzz Is Building Around 3 Irish Difference Makers
With Notre Dames opener closing in, camp has started to sharpen the picture around a few players who could matter more than expected once the season settles in. Mylan Graham and James Flanigan are both being tracked as possible starters at wide receiver, giving the Irish a couple of younger options whose roles could grow quickly if they keep building through August.
Joey OBrien is in a different spot, but he is drawing attention for his own reasons. The true freshman safety has recovered from an injury and is back in the mix as the top backup, which puts him in position to compete for real playing time rather than just developmental snaps. For a team looking ahead to the 2026 season, those are the kinds of camp developments that can quietly shape the depth chart before anyone really notices. [Read more 🡒]
Notre Dames Captain Vote Revealed A Leadership Problem Freeman Welcomed
Notre Dame settled on four captains for the current season, a group that blends experience and fresh voices in a way Marcus Freeman clearly values. Drayk Bowen and Adon Shuler return from last years leadership group, while CJ Carr and Jordan Faison join them after earning enough trust from their teammates to be elevated into the role.
Freeman said nine players drew significant votes, which is the kind of detail coaches usually welcome more than worry about. The Fighting Irish still chose to keep the captaincy to four, the third time in five years they have landed on that number, and the result says as much about the depth of leadership on the roster as it does about the names wearing the title. [Read more 🡒]