Bob Stoops Is Opposed To Expanding The College Football Playoff To 24 Teams

Bob Stoops didn’t hold back when he weighed in on the push to expand the College Football Playoff all the way to 24 teams.

The former Oklahoma Sooners head coach, who built a powerhouse and knows what it takes to compete at the absolute highest level, cut straight through the nonsense.

His comments on KREF Radio highlight the real motivations behind this expansion talk, and they’re not about making the sport better for fans or preserving the integrity of the regular season.

“If you're a coach and you gotta, you know it's only two teams that are getting in a championship, you, it's a lot harder than if there's 24,” Stoops said.

He pointed out the obvious incentive structure: “a lot of times bonuses could be tied to whether you made the playoffs or not, and you know, as you just said, a lot of times you are judged by that, and now you know you go all the way to 24, it's pretty hard. You know, it's pretty hard not to be in the top 25 in the country right?”

Stoops knows the landscape from experience. “At least I know, I don't know how many times we were out of it in my 18 years, not many, if any. So point being, you know, sure it does, you know as a coach, if that's the benchmark that everybody right now seems to be judging everyone by, then that just made it a heck of a lot easier.”

He wasn’t done.

“Anyhow, I don't believe always that, you know, more is better. I think I kinda liked it where it was or I don't like to have seen it just be eight teams. So anyhow, I don't know, it doesn't matter what I think. I'm out of it anyway.”

That’s the elephant in the room Bob just addressed head-on.

For coaches, athletic departments, and conferences, this isn’t really about “access” or crowning a more legitimate champion.

It’s a money grab.

More teams in the playoff means more opportunities for bonuses, better job security, and bigger payouts.

At Oklahoma, the standard has always been higher than simply cracking the top 25 every year.

Under Stoops, the Sooners played in the BCS National Championship game four times, won the title in 2000.

As a program, despite never winning a College Football Playoff game, the Sooners have racked up five CFP appearances, including four in the original four-team format.

They’ve competed for it all when only the very best got a real shot. Oklahoma doesn't need the field watered down to feel relevant.

A 24-team playoff doesn’t make college football better.

It dilutes the regular season, the best in all of sports.

Every week already feels like it matters. Rivalries, ranked matchups, and road games in hostile environments define the sport.

When you expand the playoff that far, you remove urgency from November. Losses become less costly.

The grind that separates the elite programs gets softened. Fans invest time, money, and emotion week after week.

Turning the sport into something closer to a one-month tournament risks alienating the loyal base that has stuck with it through conference realignment, NIL chaos, and the transfer portal.

Bob is spot on that more isn’t always better.

Many of us liked it when it was two teams deciding it all, or even the four-team version. And while some fans have called for 16 teams, a jump to 24 feels excessive.

There’s also the very real concern that a massive playoff would sideline conference championship games. That would be a bridge too far.

Winning the SEC Championship in Atlanta carries history and weight that a first-round CFP bye or matchup simply can’t match.

It was a bigger deal for Georgia to beat Alabama in the conference title game, than it was for the Crimson Tide to beat Oklahoma in the CFP first round.

Conference titles should mean something substantial.

Nobody is hearing a groundswell of fans demanding a 24-team field. This push comes from the top—coaches protecting their incentives, conferences chasing revenue, and administrators looking for more games to monetize.

College football’s regular season is its greatest strength.

Sacrificing that just to fatten wallets isn’t going to improve the product long-term. It could finally push some fans to say “enough” after years of constant changes.

Stoops built Oklahoma into a consistent contender without needing an expanded safety net. His perspective carries weight because he lived the pressure of competing when only the very best made it.

The sport doesn’t need to lower the bar so more programs can cash a check. It needs to protect what makes Saturdays in the fall irreplaceable: high stakes, tradition, and a regular season that actually decides who deserves to play for a championship.

Whether the decision-makers listen is another story. But Bob Stoops just voiced what a lot of real college football fans have been thinking.

More isn’t always better, especially when it comes at the expense of the game’s soul.