Heather Dinich reveals College Football Playoff committee 'leaning' to 5+7 format for expanded playoff

The College Football Playoff management committee is leaning towards moving to a 5+7 format for the expanded playoff starting next season, ESPN insider Heather Dinich reported.

A 5+7 format means the top five conference champions — which would mean the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC and the highest-ranked Group of Five team — and then the next seven highest ranked teams would make the 12-team College Football Playoff. It was originally expected to be a 6+6 but the demise of the Pac-12 has resulted in people changing their minds.

Dinich was asked where she was on Wednesday’s episode of Get Up and the answer led to her revealing the information. She had previously reported there being a “strong preference” to make the change.

“I am at the Big Ten headquarters in Rosemont, Illinois,” Dinich said. “The College Football Playoff management committee — the commissioners and Jack Swarbrick, Notre Dame’s athletic director — they’re meeting here today. They’re talking about the format, 5+7 maybe. Are they going to switch to that? I don’t know. But it’s definitely on the table and my sources indicate they are leaning towards that in a 12-team playoff.”

AAC commissioner Mike Aresco spoke with the media Tuesday after that day’s meetings at the Big Ten headquarters. He said he supports the 5+7 idea in the projected-to-be Power Four conference world coming next year.

The 12-team playoff format will start next season.

“I’m fine myself with the 5+7, assuming we stay at 12 teams,” Aresco said. “The 5+7 is something we really have to have, because otherwise, what’s the point of all the work we did for 6+6? If there’s no Pac-12, you’ve got four [power conferences], but you still want that fifth [spot] so that our group — 65 schools — has a shot at the playoff.”

The original plan of a 6+6 format seemed to be a shoo-in to be used prior to the recent realignment moves made over the summer. But with the Pac-12 set to lose 10 teams in the summer to other conferences, it has changed the equation entirely.

The College Football Playoff started with the 2014 season with four teams, and has stayed that way the past decade. This is the last season where the format will once again be four teams.

In this format, conference champions don’t have automatic berths into the CFP. It is the top four teams in the country regardless of conference membership and conference championship/