Changes to expanded College Football Playoff format on hold pending future of Pac-12

The year of 2023 has been wild for college football, and that's not even including the several upsets and storylines we've seen through the beginning of the season.

Off the field, the biggest storyline has undoubtedly been the several rounds of conference expansion and their impact on the various conferences  — specifically the Pac-12. The Pac-12 has been around since 1915 in one iteration or another, but the historic conference is seriously on its last leg thanks to the exodus of Washington, Oregon, UCLA and USC to the Big Ten; Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah to the Big 12; and Cal and Stanford to the ACC.

All that remains of the Pac-12 are Washington State and Oregon State, which paints a pretty serious problem for the conference. It also presents a problem for the College Football Playoff committee, because how can a two-team league compete for the CFP?

At least for now, that's a question that the CFP committee won't answer. Outgoing executive director Bill Hancock announced on Wednesday that any format changes to the soon-to-be 12-team field will wait on the future of the Pac-12.

"One thing that happened that I never would've dreamed would ever happen, happened," Hancock said, per ESPN's Heather Dinich, regarding the effective dissolution of the Pac-12 "... It's totally weird and everybody knows it."

The CFP format that was voted on before the Pac-12 exodus was a 6+6 model. That means that the six highest-ranked conference champions (Pac-12, ACC, Big Ten, SEC and Big 12 plus the highest-ranked Group of Five program) would be automatic qualifiers and then six other at-large teams would make the CFP. That format will stay the same at least through 2024.

What are alternatives? 

Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports has a good rundown (note: AQs are automatic qualifiers).

"Maintaining the 6+6 structure for 2024 would put off speculation that the number of automatic qualifiers will decrease with the expected loss of the Pac-12. The two other structures that have been informally suggested are 5+7 with five AQs (accounting for the expiration of the Pac-12) and the 12 highest-rated teams  — regardless of conference championship status  — earning CFP bids."

Any changes to the format moving forward will depend on the future of the Pac-12. Those changes will also have to be unanimously voted for by the committee  — which features 10 commissioners plus Notre Dame's athletic director. 

Notably, the Pac-12's status as a Power 5 conference could also be on the line. Even if the Mountains West merges with the Pac-12 to form a "new" Pac-12, NCAA bylaws require that an FBS conference must be made up of at least eight full-time FBS members. 

Stay tuned. This ride is just getting started.