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The Herald Scotland
12-07-2025
- Sport
- The Herald Scotland
College Football Playoff copying NFL format would be foolish
One of college football's many beauties is that it doesn't masquerade as an NFL imitation or Triple-AAA football. Even in this era of paid athletes, college football remains distinct from the NFL. It should steadfastly protect that identity, rather than surrender it amid a foolhardy desire to mimic the pros. At least one high-ranking conference commissioner, the Big 12's Brett Yormark, appreciates college football's need to remain intentionally divergent from the NFL. That's true, Yormark says, of how college football should operate its postseason. Conference commissioners are embroiled in an ongoing debate about the future shape and structure of the College Football Playoff. Two models have been socialized most. In one corner is the Big Ten-backed auto-bid plan that would reduce the selection committee's role and award 13 of the 16 playoff spots as automatic bids, preassigned to conferences based on historical clout. Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti drew inspiration from professional leagues while cooking up this playoff plan. Petitti's quest for play-in games is ripped from Major League Baseball's old playbook of a play-in round for wild-card teams. In the other corner is Yormark's favored 5+11 playoff model that would preserve and expand the selection committee's role in choosing and seeding the bracket. Five automatic bids would go to conference champions, leaving 11 at-large bids to be picked by the committee. The Big 12 and ACC back this plan, and the SEC has shown interest, too. BIG PLANS: The billionaire booster who wants to save college sports TOP 25: Ranking the best college football quarterbacks The NFL, of course, would never allow a committee to choose its playoff - but that shouldn't influence how college football models its postseason. "We do not need a professional model, because we are not the NFL," Yormark said at Big 12 media days. "We are college football, and we must act like it." Yormark nailed it. The NFL assigns playoff bids based off division standings, and wild-card selections go to teams with the best records. No committee is needed, because the NFL is neatly confined to 32 teams, divided evenly into conferences and divisions of equal size. Every team plays each divisional opponent twice during the regular season. The league fosters parity through the NFL draft, a salary cap and collective bargaining. College football features none of this NFL structure, and it won't soon feature any of this structure. So, why should its postseason structure draw inspiration from a professional league it doesn't resemble? Answer: It shouldn't. "There is nothing in sports like college football," Yormark said, "and we must protect what makes it special and do what's right for the fans of the game." To be clear, the selection committee does not form college football's lifeblood. A playoff didn't even exist until 2014. The sport's backbone is formed by rivalries, pageantry and stadium atmospheres that hit differently than the NFL. The committee becomes useful, though, in choosing a playoff field. Unlike the NFL's tidy structure, the FBS features more than 130 programs in conferences of varying sizes competing for one prize. Just consider the Power Four conferences and Notre Dame, and you're already at 68 teams - more than twice the NFL's size. Many schools play only half the teams in their own conference during the season. Schedules vary wildly in terms of difficulty. When we're left with a 10-2 team from one conference and a 9-3 team from another, the committee helps separate the wheat from the chaff. We engage in heated debates about whether the committee makes the right selections, just as we do for March Madness. Those debates are an asset to college sports, not a hindrance that requires a playoff with a stacked deck. Yormark says he's "doubling down on" his preference for a 5+11 model that would preserve the committee's role. "I have a lot of faith in the selection process," the Big 12 commissioner said. "They are doing a full audit of the selection process to figure out how they can modernize and contemporize and how they use data and how certain metrics." Amid that audit of the committee, it's worth questioning whether a sitting athletic director should chair the group. Anointing an athletic director as the committee's point-person creates, at the least, the illusion of bias. But, if the alternative to a selection committee choosing most of the field is the Big Ten's auto-bid plan that would stack the deck for the two most powerful conferences, before the season starts, then put me down in favor of the committee. The process is messy. It's controversial. It's captivating. It's subjective. And it's brilliantly unique and necessary to college sports. Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@ and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.
USA Today
11-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
College football mimicking NFL playoff format would be foolish
When deciding the future format of the College Football Playoff, the NFL cannot serve as a guide. College football needs a selection committee, even if the NFL does not. I hear it often, from countless coaches, and some university and conference administrators, too: If only college football operated more like the NFL, that would fix some so-called problems facing the sport. They're looking at this backward. One of college football's many beauties is that it doesn't masquerade as an NFL imitation or Triple-AAA football. Even in this era of paid athletes, college football remains distinct from the NFL. It should steadfastly protect that identity, rather than surrender it amid a foolhardy desire to mimic the pros. At least one high-ranking conference commissioner, the Big 12's Brett Yormark, appreciates college football's need to remain intentionally divergent from the NFL. That's true, Yormark says, of how college football should operate its postseason. Conference commissioners are embroiled in an ongoing debate about the future shape and structure of the College Football Playoff. Two models have been socialized most. In one corner is the Big Ten-backed auto-bid plan that would reduce the selection committee's role and award 13 of the 16 playoff spots as automatic bids, preassigned to conferences based on historical clout. Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti drew inspiration from professional leagues while cooking up this playoff plan. Petitti's quest for play-in games is ripped from Major League Baseball's old playbook of a play-in round for wild-card teams. In the other corner is Yormark's favored 5+11 playoff model that would preserve and expand the selection committee's role in choosing and seeding the bracket. Five automatic bids would go to conference champions, leaving 11 at-large bids to be picked by the committee. The Big 12 and ACC back this plan, and the SEC has shown interest, too. The NFL, of course, would never allow a committee to choose its playoff – but that shouldn't influence how college football models its postseason. 'We do not need a professional model, because we are not the NFL,' Yormark said at Big 12 media days. 'We are college football, and we must act like it.' Yormark nailed it. The NFL assigns playoff bids based off division standings, and wild-card selections go to teams with the best records. No committee is needed, because the NFL is neatly confined to 32 teams, divided evenly into conferences and divisions of equal size. Every team plays each divisional opponent twice during the regular season. The league fosters parity through the NFL draft, a salary cap and collective bargaining. College football features none of this NFL structure, and it won't soon feature any of this structure. So, why should its postseason structure draw inspiration from a professional league it doesn't resemble? Answer: It shouldn't. 'There is nothing in sports like college football,' Yormark said, 'and we must protect what makes it special and do what's right for the fans of the game." To be clear, the selection committee does not form college football's lifeblood. A playoff didn't even exist until 2014. The sport's backbone is formed by rivalries, pageantry and stadium atmospheres that hit differently than the NFL. The committee becomes useful, though, in choosing a playoff field. Unlike the NFL's tidy structure, the FBS features more than 130 programs in conferences of varying sizes competing for one prize. Just consider the Power Four conferences and Notre Dame, and you're already at 68 teams – more than twice the NFL's size. Many schools play only half the teams in their own conference during the season. Schedules vary wildly in terms of difficulty. When we're left with a 10-2 team from one conference and a 9-3 team from another, the committee helps separate the wheat from the chaff. We engage in heated debates about whether the committee makes the right selections, just as we do for March Madness. Those debates are an asset to college sports, not a hindrance that requires a playoff with a stacked deck. Yormark says he's 'doubling down on' his preference for a 5+11 model that would preserve the committee's role. 'I have a lot of faith in the selection process," the Big 12 commissioner said. "They are doing a full audit of the selection process to figure out how they can modernize and contemporize and how they use data and how certain metrics.' Amid that audit of the committee, it's worth questioning whether a sitting athletic director should chair the group. Anointing an athletic director as the committee's point-person creates, at the least, the illusion of bias. But, if the alternative to a selection committee choosing most of the field is the Big Ten's auto-bid plan that would stack the deck for the two most powerful conferences, before the season starts, then put me down in favor of the committee. The process is messy. It's controversial. It's captivating. It's subjective. And it's brilliantly unique and necessary to college sports. Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@ and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.
Dominion Post
09-07-2025
- Sport
- Dominion Post
Big 12 Commish: 'I fully expect the Big 12 to earn multiple College Football Playoff bids this year'
FRISCO, Texas — It didn't take long into the start of Day 1 of Big 12 Media Days for league commissioner Brett Yormark to make a splash. Yormark was first on the stage, and in his opening statement, made a bold claim amid college football conferences battling for superiority. 'I believe we will be the deepest football conference in America,' Yormark said. 'No league offers the competitive balance that we do.' Yorkmark listed reasons why he believes the Big 12 will be the deepest. He said because of the nine returning quarterbacks and top coaching lineups. 'I fully expect the Big 12 to earn multiple College Football Playoff bids this year, and to show once again that we can compete with anyone.' This is a bold claim because of how the Big 12 performed last year. The conference received one bid with Arizona State, which was bested in the first game it played in, although a close match. This year, most preseason polls have just one Big 12 team ranked in the top 10, so it's hard to believe that there'll be more teams in the fall. If by deepest, Yormark means competitive, then it could be the case. Four teams were tied with a league-best 7-2 conference record, and three teams were just one game back. With a lot of teams returning quarterbacks, this could be the case again. The issue is the Big 12 didn't get the most bids like the SEC or the Big 10, so it's hard to support the claim. Yormark also made a strong claim about the men's basketball conference, too. 'We've been the best conference in men's basketball over the last 10 years,' Yormark said. This statement has more support. Over the past 10 years, the Big 12 has had two national champions and two runner-ups. The Big East and ACC still have the same, or if not more, in the last 10 years, so it's still not a perfect claim, but it shows again how highly he speaks of his conference. Concluding Yormark's time on the stage, he talked about the future of the College Football Playoff and where the Big 12 stands on the format. 'We continue to believe the 5-11 model proposed by the Big 12 and ACC is the right playoff format for college football,' Yormark said. 'We want to earn it on the field. We do not need a professional model, because we are not the NFL. We are college football, and we must act like it.' The 5-plus-11 proposed model means the five conference champions receive an automatic bid, and then 11 at-large teams make up the remainder of the playoff, voted on by the CFP selection committee. The SEC did propose a model of the SEC and Big Ten each getting four bids, the Big 12 and ACC getting two bids each. This received backlash because it wasn't fair to the other two conferences The SEC has since backtracked in favor of the 5-plus-11 and 16-team playoff model. This year is another 12-team playoff, but in the future, it seems likely there'll be a 5-plus-11 model with 16 teams. '5-11 is fair,' Yormark said. 'We want to earn it on the field. It might not be the best solution for the Big 12. Knowing long-term the progress we are making, the investments we are making, it's the right format for us.'
Fox Sports
08-07-2025
- Sport
- Fox Sports
Big 12 Commish Doubles Down On Preference For 5-11 Playoff Model If CFP Expands
Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark is doubling down on his preference to stay with only five automatic qualifiers if the College Football Playoff does expand from 12 to 16 teams as many expect after this season, instead of each of the four power conferences being guaranteed multiple bids. "We have the responsibility to do what's right for college football ... not what's right for one or two or more conferences," Yormark said Tuesday at Big 12 football media days. "I think 5-11 is fair. Earn it on the field, assuming we want to expand. I love the current format, but if we're going to expand, let's do it in a way that's fair and equitable and gives everyone a chance." While the SEC and Big Ten will have more of a say on the playoff format starting in 2026, when ESPN's $7.8 billion contract kicks in, Yormark believes the 5-11 format would be good for now and in the future. He said ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips feels the same way, and is expected to express that during his league's media days in two weeks. "We do not need a professional model because we are not the NFL," Yormark said. "We are college football and we must act like it." In the 12-team format still in place for this season, the five highest-ranked conference champions are guaranteed spots in the playoff. The difference this year is that the top four highest-ranked champions are no longer guaranteed the top four seeds that come with first-round byes. Among potential 16-team formats would be four automatic qualifiers from both the SEC and Big Ten, and two each for the Big 12 and ACC. The Big 12 last season had only conference champion Arizona State make the playoff last season. [Related: How 2024-25 CFP Would've Looked Under Proposed Expansion Formats] "We want to earn it on the field," Yormark said. "It might not be the best solution today for the Big 12, given your comments about (automatic qualifiers), but long term, knowing the progress we're making, the investments we're making, it's the right format for us." Yormark, who is going into his fourth year as Big 12 commissioner, believes that the landmark NCAA House settlement will have a positive impact for all conferences, especially if the College Sports Commission works the way it is intended in enforcing the rules in the remade system. "It will. I have a lot of faith in Bryan Seely," Yormark said of the former Major League Baseball executive named CEO of the new CSC. "It should create a level playing field, and I'm not giving that up." The Big 12 was already in transition and still at 10 teams when Yormark arrived in 2022. BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF joined the league the following year. Texas and Oklahoma, who won football national championships while in the Big 12, completed their long-planned move to the SEC last year. That is when Pac-12 schools Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah came into what is now a 16-team Big 12. "I think parity matters, and I think ultimately over time, and that's hopefully sooner than later, there'll be a couple of our schools that will emerge, you know, as elite schools that are always part of the conversations at the highest levels. And that's what we're working towards," Yormark said. "But it starts with parity and being competitive top to bottom. And I think we're there." Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily. recommended Item 1 of 3 Get more from the College Football Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
Hindustan Times
08-07-2025
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
Big 12 commissioner doubles down on preference for 5-11 playoff model if CFP expands
FRISCO, Texas — Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark is doubling down on his preference to stay with only five automatic qualifiers if the College Football Playoff does expand from 12 to 16 teams as many expect after this season, instead of each of the four power conferences being guaranteed multiple bids. HT Image 'We have the responsibility to do what's right for college football ... not what's right for one or two or more conferences,' Yormark said Tuesday at Big 12 football media days. 'I think 5-11 is fair. Earn it on the field, assuming we want to expand. I love the current format, but if we're going to expand, let's do it in a way that's fair and equitable and gives everyone a chance.' While the Southeastern Conference and Big Ten will have more of a say on the playoff format starting in 2026, when ESPN's $7.8 billion contract kicks in, Yormark believes the 5-11 format would be good for now and in the future. He said ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips feels the same way, and is expected to express that during his league's media days in two weeks. 'We do not need a professional model because we are not the NFL,' Yormark said. "We are college football and we must act like it." In the 12-team format still in place for this season, the five highest-ranked conference champions are guaranteed spots in the playoff. The difference this year is that the top four highest-ranked champions are no longer guaranteed the top four seeds that come with first-round byes. Among potential 16-team formats would be four automatic qualifiers from both the SEC and Big Ten, and two each for the Big 12 and ACC. The Big 12 last season had only conference champion Arizona State make the playoff last season. 'We want to earn it on the field," Yormark said. 'It might not be the best solution today for the Big 12, given your comments about , but long term, knowing the progress we're making, the investments we're making, it's the right format for us.' Yormark, who is going into his fourth year as Big 12 commissioner, believes that the landmark NCAA House settlement will have a positive impact for all conferences, especially if the College Sports Commission works the way it is intended in enforcing the rules in the remade system. 'It will. I have a lot of faith in Bryan Seely,' Yormark said of the former Major League Baseball executive named CEO of the new CSC. 'It should create a level playing field, and I'm not giving that up.' The Big 12 was already in transition and still at 10 teams when Yormark arrived in 2022. BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF joined the league the following year. Texas and Oklahoma, who won football national championships while in the Big 12, completed their long-planned move to the SEC last year. That is when Pac-12 schools Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah came into what is now a 16-team Big 12. "I think parity matters, and I think ultimately over time, and that's hopefully sooner than later, there'll be a couple of our schools that will emerge, you know, as elite schools that are always part of the conversations at the highest levels. And that's what we're working towards,' Yormark said. 'But it starts with parity and being competitive top to bottom. And I think we're there.' college football: /hub/college-football This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
