CFP expansion talk

A long time ago – in a journalism galaxy far, far away – one of my go-to columns concerned the need for a major college football playoff. I started my daily newspaper career in 1987, and back then the mere mention of a postseason tourney was considered a mortal sin by the NCAA brain trust.

If memory serves, a lot of fans didn’t like the idea, either.

They were all-in on mythical championships awarded by votes from coaches and writers.

That same year – in early October – the NCAA Presidents Commission voted to oppose a Division 1-A (now Football Bowl Subdivision) playoff. University of Maryland chancellor John Slaughter said the idea was rejected because a postseason beyond bowl games would not be “in the best interest of intercollegiate athletics.”

Later that month, the Big Ten and Pac-10 jointly announced their opposition.

“The conferences are skeptical that a college football playoff is feasible,” Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen told the Associated Press. “It is hard to imagine how the logistics could be accomplished of moving fans and teams during the holiday period of December and early January. Also, a playoff would conflict with, rather than bridge, examination periods that occur during this time.

“We support the current bowl structure and appreciate their contributions to college football. We fear most bowls would be lost if a playoff of any nature was adopted.”

Yeah, yeah, yeah … whatever. In my mind, the championship should be determined on the field and my solution came in the form of a nice and tidy 16-team playoff.

Then there were nine D-1A conferences – the SEC, Big Ten, Pacific-10, Big Eight, Southwest, ACC, Western Athletic, Mid-American and Pacific Coast. So, champs of those leagues would earn an automatic playoff bid along with the top seven wildcard teams (based on rankings). The field would be seeded one through 16.

There were 18 bowl games in ‘87, and my plan incorporated 15 of them. The title game would be played in the Rose Bowl, the semi-finals in the Sugar and Orange, and the Cotton, Citrus, Gator and Fiesta Bowls would host the quarterfinals. I had the Peach, Sun, Hall of Fame, Astro-Bluebonnet, Holiday, Liberty, Freedom and Independence hosting first round games.

That was before the internet, so people who thought my idea was stupid had to either call me and tell me that, or contact me through snail mail. And since our antiquated phone system didn’t yet have caller ID, readers could insult me anonymously.

Sometimes I actually miss being called a dumbass via landline.

Anyway, here we are in 2025. When this college football season ends there will be 12 teams vying for a crown. Before it’s settled in the College Football Playoff National Championship in Miami, the Peach and Fiesta (semis) and Sugar, Rose, Orange and Cotton (quarters) will be part of the process.

The 12-team model, which was introduced for the 2024 season, isn’t bad at all. No way to prove it, of course, but my guess is that any team that has a realistic shot at winning it all is gonna be in the field of 12.

That wasn’t the case during the original four-team playoff (2014-2023), which I always called an invitational. It was obviously better than the Bowl Championship Series (1998-2013) that came before it, but the sample size of championship-caliber schools was far too small.

Yet, as clunky as my 16-team format might have appeared many years ago, there has now been discussion (prompted by Big Ten folks) of going as high as 28 teams.

And why not?

The Football Championship Subdivision has had a 24-team playoff since 2013 and it seems to work just fine.

Reports suggest a 28-team field would see the Big Ten and SEC receiving seven automatic bids each, with the ACC and Big 12 getting five apiece. The other four spots would be split between a pair of wildcard teams and two top non-Power 4 programs.

“The more spots the better, man. Make that thing 40 and let’s go,” Nebraska coach Matt Rhule said on Husker Online, with tongue only partially in cheek. “I think, again, you’re talking about a league (Big Ten) that we play nine conference games where some others play eight (the SEC voted Thursday to move to a nine-game league schedule in 2026). So, I think that puts you at an automatic disadvantage.”

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney has a pair of CFP titles under his belt and says no matter how a champion is determined, his ACC team will show up.

“As I’ve said many times, when there was a BCS, we made it,” Swinney said in July. “We got to the BCS down in the Orange Bowl and got in the mix of that and played Ohio State. When it was the Final Four, we got there six times. Four final twos. And when it went to 12, somehow, someway, with a 56-yarder (a field goal that won the ACC championship for the Tigers in 2024), we made it. We got there.

“So, if it goes to 14 or it goes to 16 or 24 or if there’s a new number, I don’t know … I have no idea. I just know this: at Clemson, we’re gonna always have a chance to be in whatever tournament people want to create.”

The SEC and Big Ten basically run college football, so – like it or not – whatever they decide is what will ultimately happen. And while saying, “I hope (fill in name of school here) finishes at least seventh in the (Big Ten or SEC) so they can make the playoffs” sounds ridiculous, this is a moneymaking business and big, bold expansion would rake in cash in by the millions.

Look, big-time college football – certainly from a Power 4 perspective – is NFL Lite now. Thanks to revenue sharing, NIL deals and the transfer portal, it’s pro football that just happens to have marching bands, cheerleaders and a fully-paid education if a player chooses to take advantage of it. Whatever college football once was, it is now something else entirely.

And since you can’t turn back the clock – except when Daylight Saving Time comes – you can either embrace it or ignore it.

But hey – these teams are still attached to universities.

Saturday tailgating continues unabated.

And there are almost too many bowls to count (OK, I counted – there are 42).

In other words, some vestiges of tradition remain. Thus, if your team doesn’t qualify for the 24 or 28-school CFP in the future, the consolation prize could be an invitation to the Extreme Cheese Bikini Atoll Atomic Bowl.

That said, my 16-team playoff idea remains there for the taking – and I’m ready for the Astro-Bluebonnet, Freedom and Hall of Fame Bowls to make a comeback …