The topic of the off-season is the expansion of the College Football Playoff and Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti made his comments clear about it on Thursday night.
“I don’t direct my attention to things I really have no control of. Tony (Petitti) is a big proponent (of expansion). I support Tony. He’s done a great job with our conference, moving it forward. We continue to expand and get better. So, whatever it is, it is. My job is to try to get there.” Cignetti said.
Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti has led the charge on playoff expansion from 12 teams to 24.
“We want to better connect the regular season and the postseason. A critical goal of any post-season format, regardless of sport, is to keep as many teams alive as deep into the season as possible. We want more conference games to matter in November. Also, the playoff format should not function as a disincentive to
schedule tough, nonconference games.” Petitti said at the 2025 Big Ten Media Days in Las Vegas. “As we said throughout this process, we are open to considering any format ideas that come from our colleagues or the CFP staff, but to be clear, formats that increase the discretion and role of the CFP Selection Committee will have a difficult time getting support from the Big Ten.”
Since then, the Big XII and ACC has put their support behind a 24-team playoff, while the SEC and ESPN have been holding steady to not expand past 16.
This year’s playoff will remain at 12 teams for the third consecutive year. Indiana has made the CFP the last two seasons, going 16-0 and winning the College Football National Championship in 2025. The Big Ten has won the last three national championships.
The deadline to finalize any changes in the CFP format is December 1, 2026. If no changes are approved, the format will stay at 12.