College Football Playoff will remain with 12 teams heading into 2026

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College Football Playoff expansion talks hit another roadblock this week, with the Power 4 conferences failing to agree on a larger field before the deadline. As a result, the Playoff will stay at 12 teams for at least one more season.

There will still be a small adjustment to how teams qualify. All Power conference champions are expected to receive automatic bids, replacing the previous system that limited those spots to the five highest-ranked champions. Notre Dame will also be guaranteed a Playoff spot if it finishes inside the Top 12 of the final CFP rankings, a change that would have put the Irish in the field last season.

Efforts to expand the Playoff dragged on for months but ultimately stalled because of disagreements between the SEC and Big Ten. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has pushed for a 16-team model, while Big Ten leadership has sought long-term guarantees on future expansion. Without common ground, CFP leaders opted to keep the current format intact.

For Clemson, the existing setup has already shown how thin the margins can be. The Tigers reached the 2024 Playoff as the final automatic qualifier and would have landed at No. 12 regardless of how the 12-team field was seeded that season.

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This article originally appeared on Clemson Wire: College Football Playoff set to remain at 12 teams in 2026

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