
Sizing up the men’s hockey bracket on the way to the Frozen Four
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Published
2 years agoon
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Steve RichardsESPN
The NCAA men’s hockey tournament field is set, with 16 teams vying for a trip to Tampa, Florida, for the Frozen Four and a chance at the national championship.
The top four seeds include three of the sport’s most decorated programs — Minnesota, Michigan and defending champ Denver — plus a recent powerhouse in Quinnipiac, which has the best record in the country.
The 16-team field, which includes the six conference champions and 10 at-large teams, will compete in regional play Thursday and Friday, with the regional finals to be played Saturday and Sunday.
The Frozen Four will be at Amalie Arena in Tampa, with the national semifinals April 6 and the national championship game April 8.
Every game of the tournament will be on either ESPN 2, ESPNU or ESPNews and will be available to stream on the ESPN app.
Below are the pairings and schedules for the tournament and a team-by-team look at the field. The schedule will be updated with results as games are played. For a bracket that will update as games are completed, click here.
Schedule
All times Eastern
Manchester, New Hampshire, regional
Thursday: Western Michigan vs. Boston University, 2 p.m. (ESPN2); Cornell vs. Denver, 5:30 p.m. (ESPNews)
Saturday: Regional final, 4 p.m. (ESPNU)
Fargo, North Dakota, regional
Thursday: Minnesota State vs. St. Cloud State, 5 p.m. (ESPNU); Canisius vs. Minnesota, 9 p.m. (ESPN2)
Saturday: Regional final, 6:30 p.m. (ESPNU)
Bridgeport, Connecticut, regional
Friday: Ohio State vs. Harvard, 2 p.m. (ESPNU); Merrimack vs. Quinnipiac, 5:30 p.m. (ESPNews)
Sunday: Regional final, 4 p.m. (ESPN2)
Allentown, Pennsylvania, regional
Friday: Michigan Tech vs. Penn State, 5 p.m. (ESPNU); Colgate vs. Michigan, 8:30 p.m. (ESPNU)
Sunday: Regional final, 6:30 p.m. (ESPN2)
Frozen Four
at Amalie Arena, Tampa, Florida
April 6: National semifinals, 5 and 8:30 p.m. (ESPN2)
April 8: National championship game, 8 p.m. (ESPN2)
Manchester regional
Denver (30-9-0)
How they got in: At-large bid (lost NCHC semifinal to Colorado College)
NCAA appearances: 32
Frozen Four appearances: 18 (nine national titles, last in 2022)
Last NCAA finish: Won national title over Minnesota State in 2022
Of note: Denver was rolling along, winning 11 of 12, before a stunning 1-0 loss to Colorado College in the NCHC semis likely snapped the team to attention. … Special teams could be a key for Denver’s quest to defend its national title. The Pioneers have the third-best power play in the country (26.6%), but their penalty kill ranks just 45th (78%).
Boston University (27-10-0)
How they got in: Won Hockey East championship
NCAA appearances: 38
Frozen Four appearances: 22 (five national titles, last in 2009)
Last NCAA finish: Lost first round to St. Cloud in 2021
Of note: First-year coach Jay Pandolfo was captain of BU’s national title team in 1995-96. … Freshman Lane Hutson, a Montreal Canadiens draft pick, scored the overtime winner in the Terriers’ Hockey East final win over Merrimack. He is the highest-scoring U19 defenseman (47 points) in the NCAA since Brian Leetch in 1986-87. … For some BU fans, a Frozen Four run is needed to erase the sting of the Terriers’ fourth-place finish in Boston’s beloved Beanpot.
Western Michigan (23-14-1)
How they got in: At-large bid (lost to Colorado College in NCHC quarterfinals)
NCAA appearances: 8
Frozen Four appearances: 0
Last NCAA finish: Lost to Minnesota in regional final in 2022
Of note: The Broncos are well rested after a surprising two-game sweep by Colorado College (13-22-3) in the NCHC quarterfinals (although it must be noted CC knocked off Denver in the semis as well). … Senior Jason Polin leads the nation with 29 goals and is second with 149 shots.
Cornell (20-10-2)
How they got in: At-large bid (lost to Harvard in ECAC semifinal)
NCAA appearances: 23
Frozen Four appearances: 8 (two national titles, last in 1970)
Last NCAA finish: Lost regional final to Providence in 2019
Of note: Cornell is tied with Minnesota State for second in the nation in scoring defense (2.0 goals per game), and the Big Red also can score (eighth with 3.4 goals per game), particularly on the man advantage (25.9%, fourth in NCAA).
Fargo regional
Minnesota (26-9-1)
How they got in: At-large bid (lost Big Ten final to Michigan)
NCAA appearances: 40
Frozen Four appearances: 22 (five national titles, last in 2003)
Last NCAA finish: Lost national semifinal to Minnesota Duluth in 2022
Of note: Much of last season’s Frozen Four team is back, but the Gophers have gotten a huge spark from freshmen Logan Cooley and Jimmy Snuggerud, who are 1-2 on the team in points and plus-minus (Cooley at 52, plus-34; Snuggerud at 49, plus-31). … Minnesota is 11-6 against teams in the NCAA field.
St. Cloud State (24-12-3)
How they got in: Won NCHC championship
NCAA appearances: 17
Frozen Four appearances: 2
Last NCAA finish: Lost first round to Quinnipiac in 2022
Of note: After a disappointing season last year, St. Cloud State looks to get back to the national title game after losing to UMass in 2021. … The battle-tested Huskies have won three of four against Denver. They went through a 1-5-3 stretch late in the regular season, but turned things around in the NCHC tournament.
Minnesota State (25-12-1)
How they got in: Won CCHA championship
NCAA appearances: 9
Frozen Four appearances: 2
Last NCAA finish: Lost national championship game to Denver in 2022
Of note: The Mavericks have been to the last two Frozen Fours, but their spot in the field this season was not fully secured before their stirring comeback OT win over Northern Michigan in the CCHA title game. They scored twice in the last 2:19 of regulation to tie it, then won on Zach Krajnik’s goal 1:08 into overtime.
Canisius (20-18-3)
How they got in: Won Atlantic Hockey championship
NCAA appearances: 2
Frozen Four appearances: 0
Last NCAA finish: Lost in first round to Quinnipiac in 2013
Of note: The Golden Griffins emerged from an upset-filled tournament to claim the Atlantic’s automatic bid. Although checking in at No. 41 in the PairWise rankings, Canisius has at least one thing going for it — experience (albeit not on this stage). The Griffs are the second-oldest team in the country, with an average age of 23.2.
Bridgeport regional
Quinnipiac (30-4-3)
How they got in: At-large bid (lost ECAC semifinal to Colgate)
NCAA appearances: 9
Frozen Four appearances: 2
Last NCAA finish: Lost regional final to Michigan in 2022
Of note: Again led by Yaniv Perets (1.52 GAA), Quinnipiac put up absurd defensive numbers for the second straight season. This year, the Bobcats also scored 3.92 goals per game and the ECAC was much stronger.
Harvard (24-7-2)
How they got in: At-large bid (lost ECAC final to Colgate)
NCAA appearances: 27
Frozen Four appearances: 13 (one national title, in 1989)
Last NCAA finish: Lost first round to Minnesota State in 2022
Of note: The Crimson, who are in the top seven nationally in both goals scored and goals allowed per game, are led by junior Sean Farrell (1.58 points per game, second in the country). … Ted Donato, who keyed Harvard’s run to its lone national title in 1989, has led his alma mater to eight NCAA appearances in 18 seasons at the helm.
Ohio State (20-15-3)
How they got in: At-large bid (lost to Michigan in Big Ten semifinal)
NCAA appearances: 10
Frozen Four appearances: 2
Last NCAA finish: Lost in first round to Denver in 2019
Of note: The Buckeyes take a ton of shots (1,378, second only to Penn State) and hung a 6-spot on Minnesota and a 7-spot on Michigan in early-season wins over the Gophers and Wolverines. But OSU also lost 7-3 to Michigan in the Big Ten tourney and was outscored 9-2 in a weekend sweep at Minnesota to close the regular season. … Ohio State has the best penalty kill in the country (89.5%).
Merrimack (23-13-1)
How they got in: At-large bid (lost to BU in Hockey East final)
NCAA appearances: 3
Frozen Four appearances: 0
Last NCAA finish: Lost in first round to Notre Dame in 2011
Of note: The Warriors were the surprise team of the early season, getting well into the top 10 of the rankings, before a rough 2-8-1 stretch at the start of the new year. But they rebounded with a weekend sweep of Boston University and closed strong, securing the final at-large bid despite losing to the Terriers in overtime in the Hockey East championship game.
Allentown regional
Michigan (24-11-3)
How they got in: Won Big Ten championship
NCAA appearances: 40
Frozen Four appearances: 26 (nine national titles, last in 1998)
Last NCAA finish: Lost national semifinal to Denver in 2022
Of note: As has been the case of late, the Wolverines don’t lack for star power. Freshman sensation Adam Fantilli, the likely No. 2 pick in the upcoming NHL draft, leads the nation with 1.85 points per game, while sophomore defenseman Luke Hughes may well be wearing a New Jersey Devils uniform in a few weeks.
Penn State (21-15-1)
How they got in: At-large bid (lost to Ohio State in Big Ten quarterfinals)
NCAA appearances: 3
Frozen Four appearances: 0
Last NCAA finish: Lost in first round to Denver in 2018
Of note: Penn State got off to a 9-0 start that included a 3-0 win over Michigan. The Nittany Lions also beat Minnesota and lost in OT to the Gophers and Wolverines, so they’ve hung with the big boys, but they’ll need to recapture their early mojo to make some noise. … PSU leads the country with 1,462 shots (nearly 40 per game) and is third in faceoff percentage (55%).
Michigan Tech (24-10-4)
How they got in: At-large bid (lost CCHA semifinal to Northern Michigan)
NCAA appearances: 15
Frozen Four appearances: 10 (three national titles, last in 1975)
Last NCAA finish: Lost in first round to Minnesota Duluth in 2022
Of note: Michigan Tech’s best shot at making its first Frozen Four since 1981 is for senior goalie Blake Pietila to stand on his head. Pietila is fifth in the country with a 1.99 GAA, tied for third with a .929 save percentage and No. 1 with 10 shutouts.
Colgate (19-15-5)
How they got in: Won ECAC championship
NCAA appearances: 6
Frozen Four appearances: 1
Last NCAA finish: Lost in first round to Ferris State in 2014
Of note: Colgate, which entered the ECAC tournament at the No. 5 seed, won its first league title in more than 30 years and second ever by beating Harvard 3-2. Goalie Carter Gylander was the key for the Raiders with 34 saves, 14 in the third period.
Note: NCAA tournament and Frozen Four appearances since tournament began in 1948
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Sports
CFP format debate: Would SEC change cost bids? Does the 11+5 make the most sense?
Published
10 mins agoon
May 31, 2025By
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Bill ConnellyMay 31, 2025, 07:20 AM ET
Close- Bill Connelly is a writer for ESPN. He covers college football, soccer and tennis. He has been at ESPN since 2019.
Leave it to college football to take the silliest, most circuitous possible route to the easiest, most logical answer.
Though nothing’s official and things could take further silly turns, a read of recent tea leaves gives the impression that those in charge of how the College Football Playoff will look in 2026 and beyond are homing in on a straightforward, 16-team tournament with five guaranteed spots for conference champions and 11 at-large bids. After months of debates about different bracket structures and conferences getting multiple automatic bids, the conversation seems to have returned to a clean and easy bracket.
We’re going to pretend this means people are listening to me. When I wrote about this debate in March, I recommended skipping expansion to 14 teams and moving to 16, and I mocked the idea of multiple autobids. Granted, I also recommended putting six conference champions in the field and putting quarterfinal games in home stadiums, not just first-round games. I won’t hold my breath on those ideas (especially the former), but that’s still a pretty good batting average.
After a week of posturing from power conference leaders, let’s keep the conversation going. Here are some thoughts about what we’ve learned this week and the debates still to come
Moving to nine conference games might cost the SEC one to two playoff teams per year
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey talked a lot this week. He went on “The Paul Finebaum Show.” He talked about a scheduling partnership with the Big Ten. He increased the fines for field rushing. He talked about which playoff games should or will be on home campuses. He talked about how long this formatting process takes. He scoffed at being told to serve the good of the game. And he spent a long time telling everyone how hard the SEC’s schedules are:
On Thursday afternoon, the SEC provided members of the media with a six-page packet that included color-coded charts using multiple metrics to illustrate the league’s dominant schedule strength. Sankey said the task for determining the CFP’s strength of schedule component is striking a balance “between human and machine,” referring to the old BCS computer formula. … [The packet] included ESPN’s Strength of Record, Bill Connelly’s SP+, Kenneth Massey’s metric, ESPN’s Football Power Index and ESPN’s Strength of Schedule metric.
Sankey seemed to have two primary goals for bringing up strength of schedule. For starters, it seemed like he wanted to remind everyone that Alabama and its 9-3 record didn’t get into last year’s 12-team CFP despite strength-of-schedule numbers quite a bit stronger than those of higher ranked teams such as SMU (which had gone 11-2), Boise State (12-1) and Indiana (11-1). He said that decision left him with critical questions about the committee and its process.
“I do think there’s a need for change,” Sankey said of the ranking protocol Thursday at the conclusion of his league’s spring meetings. “… How do you make those decisions? It’s hard, and we trust the committee to do that, and I respect the people in there, so this isn’t a criticism of the people. This is wanting to understand the decisions. We have to have better clarity on the criteria that inform those decisions.”
Now, all the strength-of-schedule advantages in the world didn’t stop Alabama from losing to 6-6 Vanderbilt and 6-6 Oklahoma. In the latter game, Alabama couldn’t have looked less playoff-worthy, losing 24-3 to the Sooners. Maybe the Tide would have gotten in with a formula approach, but they showed no indication that they could make a playoff run at the end of the season. Plus, we know that the playoff committee took Alabama’s strength of schedule into account because it ranked the Tide ahead of 11-2 Arizona State, 10-2 Miami and 10-2 BYU, among others, despite how they looked at the end of the regular season. If Bama had lost to only one of Vandy or Oklahoma, the Tide would have almost certainly been in the field of 12. And they’d have definitely been in a field of 16 regardless, along with two other three-loss SEC teams (Ole Miss and South Carolina).
4:23
Greg Sankey discusses the hottest topics from the SEC spring meetings
Commissioner Sankey joins The Paul Finebaum Show to detail the conversations around possible CFP changes and conference schedules going forward.
Also, Sankey didn’t mention that the committee placed a one-loss Alabama team ahead of an unbeaten Florida State team in the CFP rankings just one year earlier. If we want to talk about a formula, let’s talk about a formula. But the SEC has been treated with extreme kindness by the committee on average.
(For the record, I’m all for a formula-based rankings system. I put out a BCS-like formula ranking in the home stretch of each season, and there’s value in the approach. People convinced themselves that they hated the BCS formula, but I will forever insist that the main reason they hated the formula wasn’t the formula — it was that the BCS selected only two teams to play for the title. With a lot more teams to choose now, a formula approach would work quite well.)
Beyond the attempts to work the referees, however, Sankey also discussed schedule strength as it pertained to the ongoing conversation about the length of the SEC’s conference schedules. The SEC plays eight-game conference schedules, while the other primary power conference, the Big Ten, plays nine-game schedules. Despite this difference, the metrics cited by the SEC above (including, yes, my SP+ rankings) are a pretty stark reminder that, between the SEC typically having far fewer easy matchups than the Big Ten and a solid rotation of annual out-of-conference rivalry games played by SEC teams against ACC programs — Florida against Florida State, South Carolina against Clemson, etc. — the average SEC schedule is already a decent amount tougher than the average Big Ten schedule. Using my recent post-spring SP+ projections as a guide, SEC teams project to have 13 of the 15 hardest schedules in the country despite eight-game conference slates.
Since Sankey serves at the discretion of SEC presidents and, to a degree, athletic directors, it made sense that Sankey wanted to push back on the mounting pressure to move to nine games.
“If we’re not confident that the decision-making about who gets in and why and what are the metrics around it, it’s going to be really hard for some of my colleagues to get to the nine games,” Texas A&M athletics director Trev Alberts said this week.
Why make your schedules harder if it will cost your conference playoff bids, right?
There are plenty of valid reasons for moving to nine games regardless of what it does to playoff status. For starters, it will likely increase the value of the SEC’s media rights contract, giving the league even more of a war chest. It would make teams’ home schedules even more exciting and, potentially, expensive. And most importantly, it would make the 16-team conference feel like an actual conference: With a nine-game schedule, you can play every team twice in four years. With eight-game schedules, those rotations take a lot longer. (Yes, this is being written by a Mizzou guy who’s bitter that LSU fans, with their tailgating prowess, have had a reason to come to Columbia only once in Mizzou’s 13 SEC seasons.)
Because we’re using numbers to prove that SEC schedules are already difficult, let’s use numbers to ask a different question: How much more difficult would nine-game SEC schedules be?
To answer this question, I did what I do: I ran a simulation. I created four years’ worth of nine-game SEC schedules based around the super-clean, super-easy idea of permanent conference rivalries: You assign every team three permanent, annual opponents, and they play six other opponents home-and-away over two years, then the other six over the next two. Voila, you’ve visited every stadium in your conference and hosted every conference mate at least once every four years. I’ve been floored that other huge conferences such as the Big Ten and Big 12 haven’t leaned further into the permanent rivals concept — the 16-team Big 12 isn’t making Farmageddon (Kansas State-Iowa State) an annual game, and the 18-team Big Ten didn’t set up annual games between all of its four new Western teams. Regardless, I set up permanent rivals for each SEC team.
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Alabama: Auburn, LSU, Tennessee
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Arkansas: Missouri, Texas, Texas A&M
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Auburn: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi State
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Florida: Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina
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Georgia: Auburn, Florida, South Carolina
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Kentucky: Florida, Tennessee, Vanderbilt
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LSU: Alabama, Mississippi State, Ole Miss
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Mississippi State: Auburn, LSU, Ole Miss
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Missouri: Arkansas, Oklahoma, South Carolina
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Oklahoma: Missouri, Texas, Texas A&M
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Ole Miss: LSU, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt
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South Carolina: Florida, Georgia, Missouri
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Tennessee: Alabama, Kentucky, Vanderbilt
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Texas: Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M
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Texas A&M: Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas
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Vanderbilt: Kentucky, Ole Miss, Tennessee
These pairings preserve all but one of the series that have been played 90-plus times (Alabama-Mississippi State is the one I couldn’t squeeze in, in part because MSU has four such series). They reconnect former Big 8, Big 12 and/or SWC rivalries such as Oklahoma-Missouri and Texas-Arkansas, but they don’t go too far in that regard — at this point, Missouri has played South Carolina as conference mates as many times as Texas A&M (13) and more than Texas (nine), and the teams from the two Columbias have played some strange and memorable battles already.
There’s obviously a pretty big difference in quality between, say, Auburn’s or LSU’s annual opponents versus that of Kentucky or Ole Miss. But remember: Six of a team’s nine conference games come from the rest of the pool. Over a four-year rotation, Auburn’s schedules are only a smidgen harder than Ole Miss’ on average.
A full nine-game Auburn schedule might look like this: Alabama, at Georgia, Mississippi State, at Oklahoma, South Carolina, at Ole Miss, Tennessee, at Vanderbilt, Texas A&M. Meanwhile, an Ole Miss schedule might look like this (common opponents in bold): at LSU, Vanderbilt, at Mississippi State, Arkansas, at Kentucky, Auburn, at Missouri, Georgia, at Oklahoma. One plays Alabama, the other plays LSU. One plays Kentucky, the other plays South Carolina. Over time, the schedule strengths will be pretty close.
Using existing nonconference games as much as possible (with a few necessary tweaks), here’s what the 2026 schedule might look like with nine total conference games and a 3+6 approach.
Because you’ve got some teams now playing five conference road games, it will be difficult to avoid handing teams some pretty rough patches — Alabama and Missouri playing four road games in five weeks late in the season, for example, or Kentucky starting with back-to-back conference road games. But it’s hard not to notice how every week is pretty loaded. Some hypothetical 2026 headliners:
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Week 1: Georgia at Ole Miss, Clemson at LSU, Miami at South Carolina, Texas A&M at Tennessee
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Week 2: Ohio State at Texas, Oklahoma at Michigan, Missouri at Kansas, Kentucky at LSU
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Week 3: Florida State at Alabama, Oklahoma at Texas A&M, South Carolina at Auburn, Florida at Kentucky
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Week 4: Tennessee at Georgia, Alabama at Florida, Arkansas vs. Texas A&M, LSU at South Carolina, Illinois at Missouri*
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Week 5: Georgia at Alabama, Auburn at Oklahoma, Florida at Texas, Texas A&M at South Carolina, Ole Miss at Missouri
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Week 6: Oklahoma vs. Texas, Tennessee at Auburn, Missouri at Georgia, South Carolina at Florida
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Week 7: Tennessee at Alabama, LSU at Texas, Auburn at Ole Miss, Oklahoma at Arkansas, Georgia at South Carolina
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Week 8: Arkansas at Ole Miss, Missouri at South Carolina, Oklahoma at Kentucky
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Week 9: Alabama at Texas, Georgia vs. Florida, Ole Miss at LSU, Missouri at Texas A&M
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Week 10: Alabama at LSU, Texas A&M at Auburn, Ole Miss at Oklahoma, Texas at Missouri
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Week 11: Auburn at Georgia, Texas at Arkansas, Florida at Texas A&M, Missouri at Tennessee
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Week 12: LSU at Florida, Georgia at Texas A&M, Missouri at Oklahoma, Alabama at South Carolina
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Week 13: The typical loaded rivalry week
(* Missouri is somehow scheduled to play at Illinois and Kansas in 2026, but because the Tigers drew a slate with five conference road games, I flipped the Illinois game out of pure convenience.)
Obviously, the real-life 2026 SEC slate will also feature a lot of these big-time games, but aside from a relatively paltry Week 8, every week has some huge, TV-friendly brand matchups. That’s an utterly loaded schedule.
It’s also a schedule that will, as athletic directors will surely notice, hand quite a few losses to good teams.
1:29
Paul Finebaum supports CFP moving to straight seeding in 2025
Paul Finebaum is on board with the College Football Playoff shifting to a straight seeding model starting this season.
Though I shared hypothetical 2026 schedules above, I wanted to use SP+ projections to look at a full four-year rotation and compare what it would produce from a wins-and-losses standpoint to what the current eight-game slate produces.
For the league’s elite teams, moving to nine games won’t make much of a difference. For instance, with its current schedule, SP+ projects Georgia to win 9.8 games on average, with an 84.9% chance of going at least 9-3 (the hypothetical cutoff line for SEC teams hoping to get into the field). But with an abridged, three-game nonconference schedule — for the most part, I shrank nonconference schedules by getting rid of teams’ second games against Group of 5 teams and leaving one game against a power-conference opponent, one against a G5 team and one against an FCS team — Georgia averages 9.7 wins over four simulated seasons, with a 79.6% chance of reaching 9-3 or better on average. There’s a bit less margin for error, but well-projected teams like Georgia will be in good shape, regardless.
For the league’s light heavyweights, however, things get trickier. Florida has a 43.7% chance of finishing 9-3 or better in 2025, but in a nine-SEC-games universe, that drops to 19.6%. Four others see their odds drop by at least 10%, and current long shots like Vanderbilt (10.2% chance of going 9-3 in 2025) see their odds almost completely vanish (0.1%).
Overall, an average of 6.2 SEC teams are projected to go 9-3 or better in 2025. In a nine-game universe, that average shrinks to 4.7. With a 16-team field, you could say that the league would go from expecting around six teams in the field to having four or five teams safely in and campaigning for some 8-4 teams. Meanwhile, the league would also go from an average of 13.4 bowl-eligible teams to just 11.4.
That’s not an insignificant change. There would be plenty of cases where an 8-4 team with an off-the-charts strength of schedule would also be in good shape, but the professed risk is real. Of course, that’s what the money’s for. Media rights revenue would probably rise with expanded conference schedules; plus, the SEC and Big Ten are already guaranteed a huge portion of future CFP money anyway, so if they lose a playoff team here or there, it’s only going to hurt so much. Still, it’s easy to see why SEC ADs and coaches, whose jobs (and, potentially, bonuses) might be dictated by CFP bids, might balk at making tough schedules tougher.
The SEC and Big Ten championship games are being rendered moot
Among the main reasons the Big Ten, in particular, was interested in a selection process that featured multiple autobids (a rumored four each for the Big Ten and SEC) were that it would allow the two conferences — plus, perhaps, the ACC and Big 12, which were likely to receive two guaranteed bids each in such a structure — to redefine Championship Weekend.
The Big Ten and SEC championship games provided little-to-no positive impact for their winners last year: Oregon beat Penn State in the Big Ten championship to earn a first-round playoff bye but drew a smoking hot Ohio State in the quarterfinals and lost, and Georgia beat Texas in the SEC championship but lost quarterback Carson Beck to injury and handed Gunner Stockton his first career start in a quarterfinal loss to Notre Dame. (Plus, there were almost no negative repercussions for losing these games. Penn State and Texas each dropped only one spot in the rankings, and when SMU lost to lower-ranked Clemson in the ACC championship game, the Mustangs fell only from eighth to 10th and still got in.) With autobids, you could create multiple play-in games and produce a new spectacle while avoiding handing extra injury risk to just your top two teams.
There’s logic in that, even if I didn’t think it outweighed the negatives of multiple autobids — that they would make the entire playoff look like a Big Ten-SEC invitational, render large portions of the regular season moot (nonconference games would have almost no impact on playoff bids, and if a No. 6 seed with an 8-4 record can steal an 11-1 No. 3 seed’s playoff bid, then what’s the point of any of this?) and sure looked like they were primarily designed to rake in extra television dough.
Recent brainstorming sessions reportedly produced ideas such as giving SEC and Big Ten champions a double-bye in a 16-team bracket, with a first round consisting of play-in games for the lowest-ranked of the 16 teams, but that ruins the point of a clean, easy 16-team playoff. But with a plain 16-teamer, the impact of the SEC and Big Ten championships will be the difference between getting a No. 1 and No. 4 seed. That doesn’t counter the injury risk.
Conference championships are valuable enough that I doubt conferences will willingly get rid of them. But they feel like a hindrance to the current process, and I wonder how conference leaders will square that circle. I have one idea, though, and it comes from the 2020 COVID season.
When the Big Ten initially announced it was returning to action that fall, it created an abbreviated eight-game slate for each team, followed by a championship weekend that was intended to feature extra cross-division games for each team across the East and West divisions — No. 2 East vs. No. 2 West, No. 3 vs. No. 3, etc. Granted, things got messy because of positive COVID tests and resulting cancellations, but the Big Ten still featured four games on championship weekend.
Maybe there’s something to the idea of playing a full slate of championship week games, even if they aren’t playoff play-in games? Maybe that becomes part of the regular-season slate, in which, after everyone has played eight conference games, the standings determine who you play for the ninth?
Using last year’s eight-game SEC standings (and adjusting to avoid rematches where possible), we could have sent Texas and Georgia to play for the SEC title in Atlanta while also having 6-2 Tennessee (the No. 3 team in the standings) host 5-3 LSU, 5-3 Alabama host 5-3 Texas A&M, and so on. That would keep everyone from playing an extra game, and it would create a lot of de facto playoff play-in games even if they weren’t officially called that.
The brainstorming on this can continue for a while longer, but there’s no doubting that, though I think a clean 16-teamer is the most favorable conclusion for this long debate, there are still downsides and wrinkles to iron out.

Four-star tight end Mark Bowman announced his commitment to USC on Friday, picking the in-state Trojans over Georgia, Ole Miss, Oregon and Texas.
Bowman, No. 24 in the 2026 ESPN 300, is ESPN’s No. 3 tight end prospect in the 2026 class.
The 6-foot-5, 225-pound recruit from California’s Mater Dei High School was previously a top-ranked prospect in the 2027 cycle prior to his reclassification into the 2026 class earlier this year. He now joins five-star USC pledges Elbert Hill (No. 15) and Keenyi Pepe (No. 17) among top-100 recruits currently committed to the Trojans’ incoming recruiting class.
Following a series of spring unofficial visits, Bowman narrowed his list of finalists to seven programs earlier this month: Georgia, Miami, Ole Miss, Ohio State, Oregon, Texas and USC. Prior to his pledge, he was scheduled to take official visits with Miami, Texas, USC, Georgia and Oregon from May 30 to June 20.
Bowman caught 32 passes for 435 yards with eight touchdowns in his sophomore season at Mater Dei. He lands with USC as the program’s third-ranked commit in the program’s 2026 class, which ranks No. 1 nationally in ESPN’s latest team recruiting rankings for the cycle.
Alongside running back pledge Shahn Alston II (No. 94) and wide receiver Trent Mosley (No. 179), Bowman now leads the collection skill position talents USC is set to add in 2026 around four-star quarterback pledge Jonas Williams (No. 155), who flipped from Oregon in February.
Bowman’s pledge comes as a late-spring recruiting boost for the Trojans after four-star outside linebacker Xavier Griffin (No. 28 overall) pulled his pledge from the program earlier this month. Four-star cornerback R.J. Sermons, previously ranked as ESPN’s No. 28th-ranked prospect in 2026, reclassified into the 2025 cycle last week and will join USC this summer.
The Trojans enter the busiest stretch of the recruiting calendar next month with 13 ESPN 300 pledges. USC is set to host a key recruiting weekend starting June 6 with current commits Hill and Alston and four-star wide receiver Ethan Feaster (No. 23) and athlete Jalen Lott (No. 108) among the top prospects expected on campus.
Sports
Big 12 chief: Big Ten, SEC must serve all football
Published
10 mins agoon
May 31, 2025By
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Andrea AdelsonMay 30, 2025, 01:29 PM ET
Close- ACC reporter.
- Joined ESPN.com in 2010.
- Graduate of the University of Florida.
ORLANDO, Fla. — Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark reiterated his support for the 5+11 College Football Playoff model, saying Friday that even though the Big Ten and SEC are leading the discussions, those conferences have a “great responsibility” that goes with it.
Over the past several days, momentum has grown for an expanded 16-team playoff that would feature the top five conference champions as automatic qualifiers and 11 at-large teams, a model Yormark presented when the Power 4 commissioners met recently in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Another model that has been presented includes four automatic qualifiers each for the Big Ten and SEC, two each for the ACC and Big 12, and one for the top Group of 5 team. Both the Big 12 and ACC are against that model.
The Big Ten and SEC have the bulk of control over the playoff’s format in 2026 and beyond, something the other FBS commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua agreed to last year when a new six-year deal for the CFP was announced.
“I think there’s real momentum for 5-11,” Yormark said at the conclusion of the Big 12 spring meetings. “Certainly, the public is voting yes for it, which I think is critically important. Yes, the Big Ten, the SEC are leading the discussions, but with leading those discussions, they have a great responsibility that goes with it, to do what’s right for college football and not to do anything that just benefits two conferences.
“I have a lot of faith in the process, and I think we’ll land in the right place.”
Yormark was asked why the Big 12 would be against a model that would guarantee two playoff spots for his conference.
“In talking to our ADs and coaches, we want to earn it on the field,” Yormark said. “The 5-11 might not be ideal for the conference, but it’s good for college football, and it’s what’s fair. We don’t want any gimmes. We want to earn it on the field. I feel very comfortable with that, and I feel the same way, and I’ve been very outspoken about it.”
Indeed, Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham, whose team made the CFP last season, said Thursday, “Every year is a new year. You never know who’s going to be good in college football, especially with the volatility with the portal. So anything that creates an open platform for teams like our guys last year to prove that they do belong, I’m in support of.”
He added, “Our coaches and our league want just the best teams, whoever those best teams are in college football that year, let’s have those best teams go and compete for a championship.”
TCU coach Sonny Dykes said the notion that conferences would get more than one automatic qualifier “doesn’t make any sense.”
“All anybody wants is to look up at the end of the year and see the best teams competing for a national championship,” Dykes said. “I don’t think that guaranteed bids does. That’s not how it works in pro football; that’s not how it works in any other sport. The AFC West gets four bids, and the NFC Central only two — that stuff doesn’t make any sense. It’s not good for the sport. I don’t think it’s good for the fans. It’s just not good for the game.”
Yormark said CFP leaders have until December to determine the future format. The FBS commissioners and Bevacqua are scheduled to meet June 18 in Asheville, North Carolina.
“We have some time now to work through the process,” Yormark said. “It is a process, but I do anticipate something getting done sooner than later.”
This is the second time in a week that Yormark has remarked about doing what is best for college football. After the commissioners agreed to move to a straight seeding model for the CFP, which will start in the 2025 season, Yormark said he hopes what’s best for college football is “the priority” moving forward. ACC commissioner Jim Phillips made similar remarks about his “responsibility” to the game.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey seemed to take umbrage with that, saying from SEC spring meetings earlier in the week, “I don’t need lectures from others about ‘good of the game.’ I don’t lecture others about good of the game.”
Asked for his response to that, Yormark said, “I agreed with Greg’s follow-up statement that I’d be entertained by it, and I was. We all have thick skin here. The neat thing about our relationship amongst the commissioners is we’re going to battle. That’s part of life. We’re going to agree to disagree. We’re kind of in that mode right now, but I have a lot of respect for my peers, and I know they have a lot of respect for me and Jim, and we’ll end up in the right place.”
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