The College Football Playoff board of managers unanimously approved a model that will guarantee the five highest-ranked conference champions inclusion in the expanded 12-team field this fall, along with the next seven highest-ranked teams, the CFP announced on Tuesday.
After months of delay at the behest of the dwindling Pac-12, the decision was made on Tuesday morning in a virtual meeting of the 10 FBS commissioners and Notre Dame president Rev. John Jenkins. The vote had to be unanimous for the 5+7 format to be approved, and the Pac-12 had either previously abstained or asked for a delay as it worked on determining its future following sweeping conference realignment.
In most years, the 5+7 format will assure the conference champions from the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC a spot in the playoff, along with the highest-ranked Group of 5 conference champion. The CFP intentionally won’t refer to the “Group of 5” in its description of the format, though, because there is a chance that champion from one of the Power 4 conferences finishes ranked below the top champion from the American Athletic Conference, C-USA, Mountain West, Sun Belt or Mid-American Conference.