CLEMSON — With the SEC and the Big Ten not on the same page anymore when it comes to the College Football Playoff, the people who run the playoff might have the data to help end the dispute.

College Football’s two most powerful conferences, up until three weeks ago, seemed poised to bulldoze their way through the college football world, as they got set to vote on a new playoff format. The new format was supposed to be voted on this past week in Asheville, N.C., during the commissioners’ summer meetings.

However, they did not happen, and it appears college football might enter 2026 with the same playoff format it will use this year.

What happened?

The Big Ten wants to use a 16-team format, with it and the SEC both receiving four automatic qualifiers (AQ), while the ACC and Big 12 each get two. The model is similar to the NFL’s, with automatic qualifiers based on how teams finished in their respected conferences, limiting the subjectivity of the selection committee.

To do this, the Big Ten wants the SEC and ACC to move towards a nine-game conference schedule, like it and the Big 12 have.

However, the SEC moved away from this format after its coaches decided they are not ready to move to a nine-game schedule. The SEC now favors a 16-team playoff with five AQs, plus 11 at-large teams.

In this model, the SEC is very clear they want the selection process to lean heavily on the strength of schedule and strength of conference. The ACC and Big 12 favor this model, as well.

How is the CFP trying to help?

According to Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger, “the 10 FBS conference commissioners and Notre Dame’s athletic director received a presentation from executive director Rich Clark and data analysts over adjustments to selection committee criteria in an effort to salvage the committee’s role itself and appease both Big Ten and SEC leaders — the two entities that, according to a memorandum signed last spring, control future format decisions.

“Whether such a change brings the two conferences together on a format remains unclear. The two leagues must agree on a playoff model for it to move forward, Clark said on Wednesday from the Biltmore Inn, confirming what’s been previously reported based on last spring’s memorandum.”

“Clark, entering his second year as CFP executive director, presented, along with a data analyst from SportsSource Analytics, “recommendations” on just how to adjust data points that the selection committee uses.

“With assistance from a Google mathematician and university math professor, the presentation included the creation of a strength-of-record metric to more heavily weight a team’s strength of schedule, conference strength and, in particular, non-conference games. In fact, commissioners heard from experts who encouraged the scheduling of more crossover games among the four power leagues — a way, presumably, to provide more data points of rating the league strength.

“Commissioners gave Clark and the CFP staff feedback, about potentially rewriting some language of the protocol used by selection committee members. CFP leaders will now “mull it over,” Clark said, before the group continues to meet throughout the summer in an effort to reach an expansion decision by Dec. 1 — the drop-dead date for 2026 expansion.”

— photo by Kirby Lee / Imagn Images