Last Updated on November 9, 2026 2:07 pm
The College Football Playoff (CFP) will expand to a 24-team format for the 2027 season, with the field featuring the conference champions from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC alongside the highest-ranked non-autonomy team and the 19 highest-ranked remaining teams in the CFP Selection Committee rankings.
The expanded 24-team CFP format was unanimously adopted by the CFP Management Committee, including Sun Belt Conference Commissioner Keith Gill.
“The adoption of the 24-team College Football Playoff represents a historic day for college football, providing greater access to the sport’s premier postseason destination and affording more deserving teams the opportunity to compete for a CFP National Championship,” said Sun Belt Conference Commissioner Keith Gill. “Since 2019, the Sun Belt has had six Sun Belt champion teams listed among the Top 24 of the CFP Selection Day Rankings—No. 20 App State in 2019, No. 12 Coastal Carolina in 2020, No. 19 Louisiana in 2020, No. 23 Louisiana in 2021, No. 24 Troy in 2022 and No. 24 James Madison in 2025—positioning that would have earned them a CFP berth under this new model.”
The Sun Belt has led non-autonomy conferences in bowl representation in each of the past four seasons since expanding to 14 football-playing members and boasts a .548 bowl winning percentage during the CFP era—trailing only the Big Ten and SEC.
“As the non-autonomy leader in bowl representation for four-straight years, the Sun Belt remains committed to Bowl Season participation beyond the College Football Playoff and anticipates elevating and expanding its bowl lineup during the next open bowl cycle,” said Gill.
The Sun Belt is coming off a 2025 campaign in which it earned its first-ever berth into the CFP, after having six teams listed in the CFP Selection Day Rankings over the past seven seasons. The Sun Belt also paced all non-autonomy conferences in Bowl Season representation for the fourth-straight year.
