CFP approves 5+7 model for 12-team playoff
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Heather Dinich, ESPN Senior Writer
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 Tuesday.
After months of delay at the behest of the dwindling Pac-12, the decision was made Tuesday morning in a virtual meeting of the 10 FBS commissioners and the 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.
Washington State president Kirk Schulz, who represents the Pac-12 on the board, told ESPN last week he would confer with Oregon State president Jayathi Y. Murthy and “be ready to vote” on Tuesday. Neither school can qualify for an automatic bid as a conference champion in each of the next two seasons, so Schulz conceded the seven at-large bids would be more beneficial to them than the original proposal of six conference champions and six at-large teams. That format was proposed before the Pac-12 lost USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon to the Big Ten; Cal and Stanford to the ACC; and Utah, Arizona, Arizona State and Colorado to the Big 12.
The Pac-12 and Mountain West have agreed to a temporary scheduling partnership in which Oregon State and Washington State will play at least six MWC opponents in 2024.
“For our two schools in the Pac-12 as it’s currently configured, there is no question that five-seven, with seven at-larges, is better than six at-larges,” Schulz told ESPN. “… There’s no question our football coaches are going to want to compete for one of those seven slots, and seven is going to be better than six.”
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 a champion from one of the Power 4 conferences finishes ranked below the top champion from the American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, Mountain West, Sun Belt or Mid-American Conference.
In 2021, for example, when undefeated No. 4 Cincinnati was the American Athletic Conference champion, ACC champion Pitt finished at No. 12 with two losses. In the 12-team format, the four highest-ranked conference champions will receive a first-round bye.
Tuesday’s meeting was also an opportunity for Washington State and Oregon State to request continued Power 5 revenue and voting rights in the new CFP contract. For the next two years, the remainder of the CFP’s current 12-year contract, Washington State and Oregon State will each continue to receive the full Power 5 revenue distribution, which is $5 million to $6 million per school. They are asking to continue to receive that amount in the next CFP contract, not knowing what their conference affiliation will be.
According to the Pac-12’s proposal, which Schulz shared with ESPN, Oregon State and Washington State are asking for “a distribution share and voting rights equal to the lowest per school pro rata share of the ACC, Big 10, Big 12, or SEC conference’s distribution, regardless of how those four conferences actually distribute CFP distributions to their members.”
“We were in a game of musical chairs and the music stopped and we had two schools standing,” Schulz said. “We’ve invested and been considered autonomy five school and conference for decades. We just don’t think that because of the musical chairs that the two remaining schools in the Pac-12 should be penalized.”
Mississippi State president Mark Keenum, the chair of the CFP board, told ESPN last week that none of the conferences know yet what the revenue distribution will be in the next contract.
“None of us do,” he said. “There’s a lot of work that’s going to have to entail on behalf of our commissioners and others to bring some recommendations to the board. They’re not there. We’re not there. I hear what he’s saying, but I don’t know you commit to a school.”
The CFP’s management committee, which comprises the 10 FBS commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick, are meeting in Dallas on Wednesday to continue working on the implementation of the 12-team playoff for this fall, along with weighty decisions about the future of the sport’s postseason in the next contract. The top priority, according to multiple sources, is coming to an agreement on a new TV deal, but they will also continue to talk about access and revenue distribution.
One change they are close to agreeing on, according to multiple sources, is eliminating the contracts the New Year’s Six bowls have with respective conferences in the new contract. The Sugar Bowl has a historical agreement with the SEC and Big 12, while the Rose Bowl has long been contractually tied to the Big Ten and Pac-12, and the Orange Bowl with the ACC, Big Ten and Notre Dame.
While those agreements are expected to remain for this season and next, there is a desire among CFP leaders to have more flexibility in where teams are placed moving forward — e.g., allowing Georgia to play in the Peach Bowl instead of the Sugar Bowl one year if it makes more sense.
“We’ve enjoyed a long relationship with the SEC and to a shorter extent also with the Big 12,” Allstate Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley told ESPN on Tuesday. “It’s been a great partnership for the past 10 years, and while it’s unfortunate if that is to go away, we understand the world around us is changing. The Sugar Bowl’s position from the outset — once the expanded playoff became a discussion — we have pledged to our partners and the rest of the conferences that we’re going be a help and not a hindrance in the process. We aim to stick by that.”
TCU quarterback Josh Hoover intends to enter the NCAA transfer portal, he announced on social media Thursday.
Hoover will be one of the most productive and coveted players available, as he projects to have the most passing yards (9,629) and touchdown passes (71) of any player returning to college football next season. Hoover says he will not play for TCU in the Alamo Bowl.
Hoover reflected on his decision in a post on Instagram, writing, “I’ve prayed about this and decided that I will be entering the transfer portal,” and thanking his Horned Frogs coaches and teammates, among others.
“I’m so thankful to have had the opportunity to represent TCU for an incredible 4 years,” his post continued. “It has been a dream to be able to play and graduate from this university and I will forever be grateful for that.”
Hoover has been TCU’s starting quarterback since midway through the 2023 season, throwing for 439 yards and four touchdowns in his first start against BYU. In 2024, he set a school record with 3,949 passing yards.
Hoover will draw interest from the highest levels of the sport, as he is already considered a draftable prospect. Instead of entering the draft, sources said he intends to play out his final year of eligibility and polish his game for the next level. He will bring with him 19 wins as a starter over his four seasons, including nine wins in 2024 and eight this season.
He blistered North Carolina this year in a season-opening blowout, throwing for 284 yards and two touchdowns. He had four touchdown passes in the regular-season finale against Cincinnati and threw for 379 yards and five touchdowns against SMU in September.
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Adam Rittenberg
Ohio University cited football coach Brian Smith’s romantic relationships, including one he admitted to with a student, as well as an allegation of public intoxication in a letter stating its intent to fire him for cause.
Smith, put on leave Dec. 1, was fired Wednesday for what the university called “serious professional misconduct and participating in activities that reflect unfavorably on the University.” The school did not provide specifics on Smith’s misconduct before Thursday.
In the intent to terminate letter, obtained by multiple media outlets through a public records requests, university president Lori Stewart Gonzalez wrote that Smith’s “extramarital affairs,” including one with an undergraduate student, brought “disrepute, scandal and ridicule,” which violated his employment agreement with the school.
Gonzalez also wrote that Smith told athletic director Slade Larscheid that he “carried on an affair” while at the Ohio University Inn, where he could be observed by athletes’ families, donors and others connected to the university. Smith had been under contract through the 2029 season and was owed about $2.5 million in remaining salary.
Rex Elliott, Smith’s attorney, responded in a letter to Gonzalez, obtained by media outlets through a records requests, and stated that Smith “didn’t participate in an extramarital affair and you know it.” Elliott added that Smith and his wife separated earlier this year, were going through a divorce and were living apart during the fall. Smith had been living at the OU Inn while looking for permanent housing and had told Larscheid that he saw athletes’ families there while with a 41-year-old woman he was seeing at the time, after he broke off the relationship with the Ohio student.
Elliott wrote that Ohio University had no policy prohibiting employees from dating students, and that Smith and a student engaged in a “perfectly appropriate consensual adult relationship that did not violate any OU rule or policy.” He said Smith and the student dated for about four months until early November, and that the student was part of the athletic department.
Elliott also responded to Gonzalez citing a reprimand for Smith for consuming alcohol in his office at the school, as a reason for his termination. Gonzalez wrote that the university was aware of a public appearance where Smith “smelled strongly of alcohol” and was “intoxicated in your demeanor.” Elliott wrote that Smith has “never been inebriated at an OU event” and that the reprimand and a meeting that occurred around it, which took place in late November, never mentioned other concerns related to Smith’s alcohol use. He added that Ohio University serves and encourages alcohol usage at other university-sponsored events and cited examples of faculty and staff drinking in their offices and other campus facilities.
“The reprimand related to coaches toasting in the [football] offices after home victories,” Elliott wrote to Gonzalez. “Finally, the coaches were toasting with Bourbon provided by your husband to Coach Smith in his office.”
In his letter, sent before Ohio terminated Smith, Elliott said Smith would “vigorously pursue” litigation for wrongful termination if Ohio fired him for cause.
Smith went 8-4 is his lone season as Ohio’s coach, after being promoted to the role from offensive coordinator. He had been on the football staff since 2022.
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Adam Rittenberg
Indiana is expected to finalize a new three-year contract with offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan, a source confirmed to ESPN on Thursday, as the school reinforces its commitment to coach Curt Cignetti’s staff.
The deal will keep Shanahan as Indiana’s offensive playcaller for the 2026 season and potentially through 2028. Shanahan has worked on Cignetti’s staffs since 2016, at IU-Pennsylvania, Elon and James Madison before coming to Indiana in 2024.
Indiana last week secured a new contract for defensive coordinator Bryant Haines that will make him among the nation’s highest-paid assistants. Cignetti lost only one assistant from the 2024 staff and will have at least his two primary coordinators back next fall.
The (Bloomington) Herald-Times first reported Shanahan’s new deal with the Hoosiers, who secured their first outright Big Ten title since 1945 and have the top seed entering the College Football Playoff. Indiana will face Oklahoma or Alabama on Jan. 1 in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl presented by Prudential.
Led by Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza, Indiana’s offense ranks third nationally in scoring (41.9 PPG) and rose to 10th in rushing (221 YPG), a significant increase from 2024. Since Shanahan’s arrival, Indiana leads the FBS in scoring at 41.6 points per game.
Shanahan, 35, is a former Pitt wide receiver who started his career at his alma mater before joining Cignetti.
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