College football is inching closer to making a major mistake in updating the College Football Playoff from 12 teams to 24.
College Football as a whole has undergone a ton of change over the past five to ten years. Conferences have realigned, the Playoff expanded from four teams to 12, the NIL era struck, and the transfer portal rules have made it very challenging to be a fan in this era of college football.
Well, the NCAA is up to its old ways again and is on the verge of an incredibly significant mistake.
The NCAA is deciding between keeping the College Football Playoff at 12 teams or increasing it to 24 teams. They believe that they are just printing money with the playoff expansion, which they are, and they are going back to the well for more.
An expansion from 12 to 24 would basically render the regular season meaningless. In 2025, there was one team that made the CFP with three losses, which was very controversial at the time.
While that team, Miami, went on to play for the National Championship, they would have legitimately zero concern about making the CFP if there were 24 teams.
There would be at least 20 teams in College Football that simply wouldn't be worried about their regular season at all. Ohio State would be a great example of this.
In 2026, there were legitimately two football games on their schedule that they were concerned about. The first was against Texas, and the second was against Michigan.
At the start of the season, Ohio State would be Sharpie'd into the playoff in August, no matter what. The effects of that would be detrimental. The product of the football would drop significantly, player development would drop significantly, and the Playoffs would become even more pressure-packed.
Ohio State is just one example of that. THe rest of the teams in the Top-20 would feel almost nearly exactly the same.
Penn State would absolutely be in this level of the conversation. Now, early on in the Matt Campbell era, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to get a couple of cheap playoff entrances.
Over the long run, an expansion to 24 teams would make the regular season almost exclusively inconsequential. Not to mention all of the rest of the damage that it would create.
Every sport is trying to catch the magic that the College Basketball tournament has, but maybe, maybe it's perfect for that sport.
What College Football has right now is pretty darn good and should not continue to be tinkered with.
Fix the transfer portal, instead.
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