Big 12's Brett Yormark is all in on CFP model with 11 at-large berths. He has to be

New York Times

2 days ago

FRISCO, Texas — Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark knows that the auto-bid College Football Playoff model proposed by the Big Ten might help his league in the short term. But as he explained this week in the practice facility of the Dallas Cowboys, that's not the point.
Discussions around expanding the CFP further for the 2026 season have now dragged on up to the start of the 2025 season. Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti first privately proposed a model for a 16-team playoff that would give four automatic bids each to the Big Ten and SEC and two each to the ACC and Big 12 well over a year ago. The numbers were partly based on the data. Post-conference realignment, the new Big 12 does not have many teams that would've qualified for the CFP in the past, so having two automatic spots is a bonus. That was the pitch, at least.
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But to codify the auto-bid model would be waving the white flag and accepting a lower status. Yormark cannot do that. Nobody in the Big 12 can do that. It's why Yormark has latched onto the 5+11 model with 11 at-large spots, even if it's not obvious now.
'(The 5+11 model) might not be the best solution today for the Big 12, but long term, knowing the progress we're making, the investment we're making, it's the right format for us,' Yormark said at Big 12 media days.
When Yormark arrived in 2022, the conference lacked marquee programs with Texas and Oklahoma on their way out. If last year's 12-team CFP was a 5+11 model, the Big 12 still would've had one team in the field.
But Arizona State was one fourth-down stop away from upsetting Texas in the quarterfinals. After bowl season, BYU finished ranked No. 13 as voters came around to realizing maybe they'd under-ranked the Cougars during the season. Colorado's Travis Hunter won the Heisman Trophy. It turns out there are still a lot of good teams in this conference.
And now Texas Tech is making waves, spending many millions of dollars to land the No. 1 transfer portal class and recently securing the commitment of a five-star offensive lineman with a multi-million-dollar guaranteed contract, beating out and upsetting some traditional powers. Who's to say the Red Raiders couldn't become what Oregon did after an influx of Nike money two decades ago?
Maybe, maybe not. But the Big 12 isn't going to get where it wants by accepting that it's less-than.
'Why would I as a commissioner cap their participation?' Yormark said. 'It makes no sense. Someone needs to convince me why I would cap their progress.'
Of course, it's not actually up to Yormark what happens with the CFP, and he knows that. The Big Ten and SEC control what the next CFP format looks like. It's something all the conferences agreed to in early 2024, along with more guaranteed money for more teams in those two leagues, regardless if they make the CFP or not. As of a few months ago, administrators from both the Big Ten and SEC really liked the auto-bid idea.
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But when SEC coaches began publicly pushing back on the auto-bid model at conference meetings in late May, the Big 12 found an opening. At Big 12 meetings that same week, Yormark, coaches and athletic directors rallied behind the 5+11 model publicly, both for themselves and to try to pull the SEC away from the Big Ten.
'(SEC commissioner Greg Sankey) indicated to me that they were exploring different options,' Yormark said this week. 'He wasn't settled on one particular thing. The spring meetings gave him an opportunity to address it, no different than us, which we did, and that's where our coaches and ADs leaned in.'
The Big Ten had stayed silent at its conference meetings, and Petitti rarely engages with reporters on the record after CFP meetings. With few big voices supporting the auto-bid model, the 5+11 idea gained more public momentum throughout June. Petitti finally broke his silence recently in an interview with Joel Klatt of Fox Sports, a Big Ten media partner. He'll certainly be asked about it at Big Ten media days in two weeks.
Among his comments to Klatt, Petitti said he envisioned a professional sports model for the postseason, with the auto-bids. Yormark said this week that college football is not the NFL and doesn't need a professional model. Asked if he thought he could convince Petitti of the 5+11 model, Yormark didn't want to get that direct.
'I can't speak for Tony or his room,' Yormark said. 'I appreciate when people have conviction for what they believe in. I've got great conviction in the position that I've taken, and I'm sure he feels the same way.'
The commissioners don't meet again in person to talk CFP until September. They've had and continue to have calls about selection criteria and different ways to factor in the strength of schedule.
Four years ago, former Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby stood at Big 12 media days and said he didn't envision much conference realignment in the future. Within a week, news broke about Texas and Oklahoma leaving for the SEC, putting the Big 12's survival on the ropes again.
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The league is back on solid footing now thanks to Bowlsby and Yormark's subsequent realignment moves, and the football coaches are behind Yormark. Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy early Wednesday walked up to Yormark and told him of the commissioner's news conference the day before, 'That was good stuff yesterday, stay after 'em.'
"That's good stuff yesterday. Stay after them."
Mike Gundy and Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark meeting today at Media Days. pic.twitter.com/cP5gNJlEBk
— Dan Lindblad (@DanLindbladTV) July 9, 2025
The league doesn't have the power to shape the future of the postseason, but it's not going to roll over and give up its own future.