The Pac-12 Conference announced a new "flex" scheduling model for the conclusion of its football season, a move intended to increase the conference's representation in the College Football Playoff (CFP). The conference will use this format to adjust matchups late in the year based on team performance.
The decision follows a period of significant realignment within college athletics that left the Pac-12 with two remaining members, Oregon State and Washington State. The conference has since added Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Utah State to rebuild its membership.
Under the new plan, the conference will wait until the final weeks of the regular season to determine specific matchups between its top teams. This strategy aims to ensure that teams with the strongest postseason resumes face opponents that can further improve their standing in the CFP rankings.
Fans and ticket holders at these schools will notice a lack of certainty regarding their late-November travel plans and game times until shortly before kickoff. Instead of a fixed schedule set months in advance, households supporting programs like Boise State or San Diego State may only have a 6-to-12 day window to arrange transportation and lodging for the final week of the regular season. This level of scheduling flexibility is uncommon in major college football and prioritizes television broadcast value and playoff positioning over traditional fixed calendars.
The move sets a precedent for how smaller or rebuilt conferences might use administrative flexibility to compete with larger "Power Four" leagues for limited playoff spots. If successful, this model could be adopted by other mid-tier conferences seeking to avoid "dead" games between high-ranked and low-ranked teams at the end of the year. The flex schedule is expected to be implemented for the 2026 season, coinciding with the official arrival of the new member schools. The exact dates for the final flexed matchups have not yet been released.