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.

 

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.

It is overall a great thing for college football, as we will be guaranteed to see at least one non-power five team in the playoff this year, while power five purists will also get 2-3 teams per big conference in in most years.

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.