Why Group of Six CFP race will be different in 2026, including Memphis football

In 2025, a convoluted ACC tiebreaker procedure meant that two non-power conference teams made the College Football Playoff.

Both Tulane and James Madison made the 12-team field in 2025 (both lost in the first round), but that won’t happen in 2026. The CFP committee unveiled mostly minor changes to its format on Aug. 6, and one of them specifically lays out that the champions of the Big Ten, SEC, ACC and Big 12 will earn spots in the field. The highest-ranked team from the Group of Six will earn a spot as well.

Memphis is a member of the American Conference and part of the Group of Six.

Unlike previous years, the Group of Six representative does not have to be a conference champion. That means a team could theoretically make the playoff even after losing a conference title game.

In the past, five spots had been reserved for the highest-ranked conference champions. While most assumed the power conference champions would always be in that tier, the ACC’s tiebreaker procedures meant Duke won the conference with five losses in 2025. That meant the Blue Devils finished below James Madison, which had gone 12-1 and won the Sun Belt title.

It was a quirk that was quickly fixed and won’t happen again. It also means there’s clarity that every team in the Group of Six is essentially competing for a different spot than everyone else, because it’s extremely unlikely that anyone outside the power conferences would get an at-large bid.

The first edition of the CFP rankings will be unveiled on Nov. 3.

Reach sports writer Jonah Dylan at jonah.dylan@commercialappeal.com or on X @thejonahdylan.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Why Group of Six CFP race will be different in 2026, including Memphis football