The Pac-12 conference announced a change in format for the Pac-12 football championship game on Twitter Wednesday.

Under the new format, the Pac-12 championship will now feature the teams with the two best records in conference play, as opposed to the prior format in which the teams with the best records in the North and South respectively faced each other. The change would have yielded a different Pac-12 football championship matchup in five of the past 11 years.

“Our goal is to place our two best teams in our Pac-12 Football Championship Game, which we believe will provide our conference with the best opportunity to optimize CFP invitations and ultimately win national championships,” Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff said.  “Today’s decision is an important step towards that goal and immediately increases both fan interest in, and the media value of, our football championship game.”

Oregon has won two of the last three Pac-12 championship games. The Ducks failed to secure their third straight Pac-12 title, losing to Utah this past season by a score of 38-10. 

The decision to change the championship game participant criteria came Wednesday as the NCAA Division I Council approved the deregulation of the current rule that had limited an individual conference’s autonomy to determine their football championship game participants.

In the eight years that the college football playoff format has existed, the Pac-12 has only had a team represent the conference twice. 

Oregon made the inaugural College Football Playoff in the 2014-2015 season. Washington is the only other Pac-12 school to make the playoff, which it did in the 2016-2017 season.

With only two bids in conference history to the College Football Playoff (the least among Power Five conferences) the change in the Pac-12 championship format aims to provide a more competitive championship game that could bolster a team’s resume to make the playoff.