It goes beyond G6 and Notre Dame special treatment with AQ.
Let’s use 2025 final rankings as the example for how it will work differently in 2026 with the new AQ rules. Top 5 conference champs would get in plus ND if ranked in Top 12.
P4 Conference Champs were: Indiana (1), Georgia (3), Texas Tech (4), Duke (UR) plus Tulane (20) as the highest G6 conference champion. Notre Dame was ranked #11 last December so they’d get AQ as well.
Who would have gotten left out? #10 Miami would have gotten left out of playoffs in 2026 in place of the three AQ teams all ranked below them. The same Miami that made it to the national championship.
In the new Big 10 proposal, none of that BS can happen. It’s straight Top 23 plus top G6 (last year that would be #20 Tulane so all Top 24 are in. Much cleaner.
Also I like this model it because if you lost a couple games early in season but have rebounded to play great in November, if ranked #17-24, you’ll have to win 2 big underdog games on the road to make it to the quarter finals. That’s proving it on the field. Similar to NFl playoffs