Bob Bowlsby reveals preferred College Football Playoff expansion format

A few months ago, the College Football Playoff committee recommended that the field expands to a 12-team model, but after some of college football’s most prominent voices met once again and came to no conclusion, commissioners like Bob Bowlsby of the Big 12 are going public with their sides of the story.

While many pointed fingers at SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, who deflected blame and explained how the SEC has been willing to compromise on a format, Bowlsby took a slightly different route. In a recent appearance on Sirius XM, Bowlsby explained which format the Big 12 is pushing for specifically and why.

“I continue to believe that the 12-team model is the right model,” Bowlsby said. “I don’t think eight (teams) goes far enough and I think there are others who believe that way as well.”

On the eve of the College Football Playoff national championship, commissioners and athletic directors met once again in Indianapolis with one goal in mind: expanding the four-team playoff field. That goal has been consistent in meetings since before the 2021 season, when the committee proposed — and went so far as to release — plans for a potential 12-team playoff field. Fans felt like it was almost a guarantee that the College Football Playoff field expands before the 2024 season; fast forward to now, however, and those hopes seem all but dead. But Bowlsby said he’s not alone in his hopes that the committee can agree on a larger 12-team model.

“There’s great debate as to whether or not there ought to be an automatic qualification regardless of record or rank for each of the autonomy conferences,” Bowlsby said, expounding on the current expansion conundrum. “That would be a perfectly fine thing for the Big 12. I continue to believe that the sixth-highest ranked conference champions ought to be the ones that get the initial berths in the playoff. I think that’s sort of an eat-what-you-kill environment. I do think that the plan that came out in June was well received, and even among media pundits I think it received very little in the way of legitimate critcism.”

Bowlsby explained that he believes the 12-team model is best for the future of the College Football Playoff, and he thinks its in the Big 12’s best interests to push towards a 12-team model. The 12-team proposal he mentioned, the one proposed earlier last year, included the four highest-ranked conference champions, seeded one through four, with each receiving a first-round bye; meanwhile, teams five through 12 would play each other in the first round on the home field of the higher-ranked team (home fields have never been used in the College Football Playoff era).

“I admit to some frustration, but I don’t have the luxury of remaining frustrated. We have to get back to the table and try and figure this out. You know, the irony of all of this is that 18 months from now, we’re going to be up against a hard time deadline because we’re going to get to year 12 (of the College Football Playoff) and there isn’t a playoff (agreement in place) past year 12,” Bowlsby said. “We will end up with an expanded playoff, I don’t think there’s any question about it. We are at the point now where it’s questionable whether or not we can get it done in years 11 and 12 of the current agreement because we’re just running out of time to put the logistics in place.”