There will be “in-depth discussions” about not guaranteeing conference champs the top 4 @CFBPlayoff seeds in 2025, sources said. Top 5 conference champs still would get in playoff but rankings would determine seeds, sources said. This would require unanimous approval by all stake…

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 30, 2024

Has to be unanimous, so do Big 10 & SEC play the "take it or we leave" card?

OP's choice of Indiana and Tennessee doesn't really help his case; Tennessee didn't exactly cover themselves in glory in round 1 either.

I think a 12-team field is a bit too big, but if we have a 12 team playoff it's absurd that an 11-1 Big Ten team would be left out of it; I don't care what logo is on their helmet or what their recruiting rank is.

Panama Red said:

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There will be “in-depth discussions” about not guaranteeing conference champs the top 4 @CFBPlayoff seeds in 2025, sources said. Top 5 conference champs still would get in playoff but rankings would determine seeds, sources said. This would require unanimous approval by all stake…

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 30, 2024

Has to be unanimous, so do Big 10 & SEC play the "take it or we leave" card?

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I had the idea discussing this with someone earlier to still guarantee the first round bye to conference champs, but to seed after round 1 based on the committee rankings. That way you maintain the stakes of the CCGs (which I would think is still a priority for the Big Ten and SEC, because $$), but you don't end up with such a an arbitrary bracket for the field of 8. So this year, round 1 on-campus games would be basically the same, but round 2 would look like this:

1) Oregon
12) Arizona State

4) Penn State
5) Notre Dame

2) Georgia
9) Boise State

3) Texas
6) Ohio State

rootube said:

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TXAG 05 said:

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12 is more than enough. 24 or 32 is just ridiculous. Why even have a regular season at that point?

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Not sure if you have been paying attention but the theory that an expanded playoff negatively impacts the regular season has been fully debunked. You may want to see how crap the new bowl season is this year before you make up your mind.

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So far, most of the bowl games have been fun and interesting, and the playoff games have been boring blowouts, like usual. We will see how the next round of playoff games go tomorrow and Wednesday.

agspirit_09 said:

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...It's ridiculous to think that a team like ... A&M could be left out of the playoff in favor of a team like Indiana...

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Seriously? A&M did not beat a P4 team since Oct 26.

Panama Red said:

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There will be “in-depth discussions” about not guaranteeing conference champs the top 4 @CFBPlayoff seeds in 2025, sources said. Top 5 conference champs still would get in playoff but rankings would determine seeds, sources said. This would require unanimous approval by all stake…

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 30, 2024

Has to be unanimous, so do Big 10 & SEC play the "take it or we leave" card?

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I think you could put guardrails on who gets the bye.

The 4 byes go to the highest ranked conference champs that are in the top 8 ( or 6 or 10 or whatever). Non champs could still get that bye when 2 or 3 conference champs aren't highly ranked, like this year.

That gives preference to the conference champions but allows the committee to move out a conference champ if there aren't worthy candidates.

Sounds like Texas wanted a first-round bye. J/k

Introducing more subjectivity into the process isn't going to fix anything. It's designed to keep the blue-bloods in control.

And 12 teams is too many - make it 8, no byes. If you want more teams, then make it 16, no byes.

On the "what might actually happen" rather than everyone's personal preference:

The often-discussed seeding change to the CFP is unlikely to gain necessary support without compromise, commissioners tell @YahooSports.

Big 12, ACC & Mountain West leaders express skepticism to eliminating the “conference championship bye” rule for 2025https://t.co/W8haEmxUjF

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) January 17, 2025

No surprise, unanimity may be a problem on fixing the seeds.

So what kind of concessions? Will Big12 ask for even money sharing?

That gets you one step closer to the inevitable SEC-Big10 peel off.