AFCA votes for 24-team playoff

18IsTheMan · May 6, 2026

Turning the "CFP" into a yawn-fest. The 4-team CFP was elite. With a 24-team "CFP" you'll have teams who would have been playing in mid-tier bowls "playing for the title."

It's all about revenue, of course. More "CFP" games, more networks, more money. More money for what? So they can make more money.

This is also going to lead to further erosion of an already crappy bowl system, as teams who would have otherwise been playing in mid-tier bowls are now in the playoff so bowl games will start taking lesser teams. Many teams with fewer than 6 wins will be playing in bowls each year.

And this is after 5 of 11 games in the CFP this last year were thoroughly non-competitive snooze-fests.

Harvard Gamecock · May 6, 2026

18IsTheMan said:
Turning the "CFP" into a yawn-fest. The 4-team CFP was elite. With a 24-team "CFP" you'll have teams who would have been playing in mid-tier bowls "playing for the title."

It's all about revenue, of course. More "CFP" games, more networks, more money. More money for what? So they can make more money.

This is also going to lead to further erosion of an already crappy bowl system, as teams who would have otherwise been playing in mid-tier bowls are now in the playoff so bowl games will start taking lesser teams. Many teams with fewer than 6 wins will be playing in bowls each year.

And this is after 5 of 11 games in the CFP this last year were thoroughly non-competitive snooze-fests.

I have a different take on this. You will either see more G5 schools have the opportunity to get in these bowls since the conference affiliation will obviously no longe apply to many of these bowls , or most likely many of the bowls will be regelated to the dust bins of history.

kidrobinski · May 6, 2026

Behold; people just incessantly seek things to criticize and/or be upset about. If a game comes off as a snooze-fest, there is always Jeopardy and reruns of Bonanza being streamed.

Harvard Gamecock · May 6, 2026

And then there was this :
Read the samll print at the bottom for more details

18IsTheMan · May 6, 2026

Harvard Gamecock said:
And then there was this :

I support ending the proposed timeline. It was absurd last season and will be worse this season.

18IsTheMan · May 6, 2026

Harvard Gamecock said:
I have a different take on this. You will either see more G5 schools have the opportunity to get in these bowls since the conference affiliation will obviously no longe apply to many of these bowls , or most likely many of the bowls will be regelated to the dust bins of history.

I would say an influx of G5 teams into bowl games is a further erosion of the bowl system.

I don't know about bowl games going away, though. Somehow, they must make money because they continue to proliferate, even when it's meaningless matchups between bad teams.

Harvard Gamecock · May 6, 2026

kidrobinski said:
Behold; people just incessantly seek things to criticize and/or be upset about. If a game comes off as a snooze-fest, there is always Jeopardy and reruns of Bonanza being streamed.

I get the gist of your post, but most audiences may not know about Bonanza

Piscis · May 6, 2026

24 teams is ridiculous. 12 has proven to be too many. This will mean that pretty much every team ranked in the top 25 will be in the playoff.

I still think 8 is the magic number. 3 rounds and it is over.

18IsTheMan · May 6, 2026

Piscis said:
24 teams is ridiculous. 12 has proven to be too many. This will mean that pretty much every team ranked in the top 25 will be in the playoff.

I still think 8 is the magic number. 3 rounds and it is over.

At least they are transparent that expansion to 24 has nothing to do with merit or giving more teams a shot. It's purely about increased revenue. They are not proposing expanding to 24 for any football-related reasons.

18IsTheMan · May 6, 2026

kidrobinski said:
Behold; people just incessantly seek things to criticize and/or be upset about. If a game comes off as a snooze-fest, there is always Jeopardy and reruns of Bonanza being streamed.

The sheep has spoken.

Psycock · May 6, 2026

Going from 12 to 24 is pretty ridiculous in my opinion. Any buys are ridiculous too imo. Unfortunately the powers that be don`t care about my opinion. Should be Top 16 in final poll, no automatics, no preference to undeserving teams. So easy but they have to justify their existence by making it more complicated and less fair.

18IsTheMan · May 6, 2026

Psycock said:
Going from 12 to 24 is pretty ridiculous in my opinion. Any buys are ridiculous too imo. Unfortunately the powers that be don`t care about my opinion. Should be Top 16 in final poll, no automatics, no preference to undeserving teams. So easy but they have to justify their existence by making it more complicated and less fair.

Last year, 5 out of the 11 CFP games were entirely non-competitive laughers. If they were doing something with expansion to create highly competitive and compelling matchups, I guess I'd get it. But they are only giving us more terrible matchups for the sake of growing their bottom line.

I don't know how you can take any CFP seriously when it includes the likes of James Madison and Tulane. They are just creating lower quality post-season football.

18IsTheMan · May 6, 2026

The original way of choosing the national title winner lasted for decades....70 or so years, depending on when you want to count the start of the modern era.

We got the BCS because people wanted a true national championship game with an objective way of selecting the national champion. Were there dollar signs involved? Sure. But the fundamental reason was creating a true title game. Fair enough. That satisfied people for 15 years.

Then it was determined we needed a 4-team CFP because we needed a playoff and no reasonable person thought anyone outside of the top 4 was a legit title contender. Why did we need a playoff? Nobody really can say. But they can say we needed one. Again, dollar signs involved? Sure, and more so than with the BCS, but again the fundamental reasons were football-based. That lasted 10 years.

Enter the 12-team playoff. The first expansion that was a transparent money grab with no football-based reasons for the drastic expansion. Entering its 3rd year it's already being read its last rites as 16-team, and possibly 24-team, iterations loom on the horizon.

Do you see the trend here?

CreekSnake · May 6, 2026

Div 1AA has used this format for years.It seems to work well but I’m sure that would be the end of Conference Championship games.

Lurker123 · May 6, 2026

18IsTheMan said:
The sheep has spoken.

The sheep with hurt feelings.

18IsTheMan · May 6, 2026

Lurker123 said:
The sheep with hurt feelings.

It hurts baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad (of course you're supposed to say that like a sheep)

Lurker123 · May 6, 2026

Psycock said:
Going from 12 to 24 is pretty ridiculous in my opinion. Any buys are ridiculous too imo. Unfortunately the powers that be don`t care about my opinion. Should be Top 16 in final poll, no automatics, no preference to undeserving teams. So easy but they have to justify their existence by making it more complicated and less fair.

I have always disliked the byes, but they haven't been the huge advantage I thought they would be.

Lurker123 · May 6, 2026

kidrobinski said:
Behold; people just incessantly seek things to criticize and/or be upset about.

As you continue to to get upset about about and criticize a fellow poster for doing the unthinkable act of simply posting.

The irony here is hip deep. And truly entertaining.

atl-cock · May 6, 2026

18IsTheMan said:
Turning the "CFP" into a yawn-fest. The 4-team CFP was elite. With a 24-team "CFP" you'll have teams who would have been playing in mid-tier bowls "playing for the title."

It's all about revenue, of course. More "CFP" games, more networks, more money. More money for what? So they can make more money.

This is also going to lead to further erosion of an already crappy bowl system, as teams who would have otherwise been playing in mid-tier bowls are now in the playoff so bowl games will start taking lesser teams. Many teams with fewer than 6 wins will be playing in bowls each year.

And this is after 5 of 11 games in the CFP this last year were thoroughly non-competitive snooze-fests.

Or these bowls will go belly-up.

Lurker123 · May 6, 2026

atl-cock said:
Or these bowls will go belly-up.

Thats what I think will happen. We already had issues filling bowls with teams this past year.

Bring in more G5 schools, or schools with losing records, and I see a lot of people tuning out.

atl-cock · May 6, 2026

Piscis said:
24 teams is ridiculous. 12 has proven to be too many. This will mean that pretty much every team ranked in the top 25 will be in the playoff.

I still think 8 is the magic number. 3 rounds and it is over.

I believe FCS is a 24-team playoff. Just stating.

Hank Williams · May 6, 2026

The coaches may be thinking players will less likely opt out a post season game if what is currently perceived as a lower tier bowl game is now considered a playoff game. I wouldn't be surprised if NIL payments for players will be tied to required playoff participation as well. And with this pay for play era, there may be eventually playoff bonuses being considered.

18IsTheMan · May 6, 2026

Hank Williams said:
The coaches may be thinking players will less likely opt out a post season game if what is currently perceived as a lower tier bowl game is now considered a playoff game. I wouldn't be surprised if NIL payments for players will be tied to required playoff participation as well. And with this pay for play era, there may be eventually playoff bonuses being considered.

And how long is it until first round CFP games in the 24-team format will be viewed the same as a mid-tier bowl and potential high draft picks on lower bracketed teams opt out of those?

Uscg1984 · May 6, 2026

18IsTheMan said:
This is also going to lead to further erosion of an already crappy bowl system, as teams who would have otherwise been playing in mid-tier bowls are now in the playoff so bowl games will start taking lesser teams. Many teams with fewer than 6 wins will be playing in bowls each year.

I'm less concerned about the erosion of the bowl system than I am at the continued erosion of the regular season that would result from a 24-team playoff. At least some P4 teams with 8-4 records will make the playoffs. Perhaps even a 7-5 team from the SEC or B1G would get in. A team would have to lose a lot of football games in order to have a "must-win" regular season game.

18IsTheMan · May 6, 2026

Uscg1984 said:
I'm less concerned about the erosion of the bowl system than I am at the continued erosion of the regular season that would result from a 24-team playoff. At least some P4 teams with 8-4 records will make the playoffs. Perhaps even a 7-5 team from the SEC or B1G would get in. A team would have to lose a lot of football games in order to have a "must-win" regular season game.

Yeah. For me, we're already there. There are no compelling, must-win games anymore. No game is circled on the calendar.

CFP proponents have been saying all along that CFP expansion doesn't diminish the importance of the regular season, which is a total illogical position when the number of losses you can absorb and still make the CFP keeps going up and up.

The week-in, week-out intensity and pressure of college football is one of the things that made it great.

Piscis · May 6, 2026

14 of 32 NFL teams make their playoffs, 44%. ESPN wants college football to mirror the NFL model, everything they have done has moved the sport in that direction. 24 teams in the CFP with 64 total P4 teams is around 38%, getting pretty close to that NFL number. I know, G5 teams and all, but realistically, there really aren't but around 45 or so FBS teams that could even think about making even a 24 team playoff. 24 teams will be slightly over half of those teams.

There are probably only about 4 to 6 teams each year that can really be argued to be the best team. Making those 4 to 6 teams have to play a couple more games against mediocre competition before they get to face each other is ridiculous.

18IsTheMan · May 6, 2026

Piscis said:
14 of 32 NFL teams make their playoffs, 44%. ESPN wants college football to mirror the NFL model, everything they have done has moved the sport in that direction. 24 teams in the CFP with 64 total P4 teams is around 38%, getting pretty close to that NFL number. I know, G5 teams and all, but realistically, there really aren't but around 45 or so FBS teams that could even think about making even a 24 team playoff. 24 teams will be slightly over half of those teams.

There are probably only about 4 to 6 teams each year that can really be argued to be the best team. Making those 4 to 6 teams have to play a couple more games against mediocre competition before they get to face each other is ridiculous.

It makes me wonder when coaches will start to manage games like NFL teams do. Say it's the 11th game of the season and you're 9-1. You know you're in the playoffs. Do you manage the last two game differently to keep certain players healthy for a playoff push?

Piscis · May 6, 2026

18IsTheMan said:
It makes me wonder when coaches will start to manage games like NFL teams do. Say it's the 11th game of the season and you're 9-1. You know you're in the playoffs. Do you manage the last two game differently to keep certain players healthy for a playoff push?

I think it has already started. I remember a strong UGA team getting absolutely throttled by Auburn at Auburn one year. UGA was already locked into the SECCG. There was a rematch in the SECCG and UGA spanked Auburn. There was a lot of talk about Kirby not really trying to win at Auburn because he already had the East won and he rested players and called a very vanilla game.

College has fully become the NFL JV.

atl-cock · May 6, 2026

Piscis said:
14 of 32 NFL teams make their playoffs, 44%. ESPN wants college football to mirror the NFL model, everything they have done has moved the sport in that direction. 24 teams in the CFP with 64 total P4 teams is around 38%, getting pretty close to that NFL number. I know, G5 teams and all, but realistically, there really aren't but around 45 or so FBS teams that could even think about making even a 24 team playoff. 24 teams will be slightly over half of those teams.

There are probably only about 4 to 6 teams each year that can really be argued to be the best team. Making those 4 to 6 teams have to play a couple more games against mediocre competition before they get to face each other is ridiculous.

Isn't that already the case in NCAA divisions not called FBS?

atl-cock · May 6, 2026

Piscis said:
I think it has already started. I remember a strong UGA team getting absolutely throttled by Auburn at Auburn one year. UGA was already locked into the SECCG. There was a rematch in the SECCG and UGA spanked Auburn. There was a lot of talk about Kirby not really trying to win at Auburn because he already had the East won and he rested players and called a very vanilla game.

College has fully become the NFL JV.

McGuire did something similar in an ACC tournament championship game vs NCSU in I believe 1959, resting his starters since the Pack was on probation and the Holes were going to the dance regardless of the game's outcome. He got raked over the coals for that stunt.

18IsTheMan · May 6, 2026

Piscis said:
I think it has already started. I remember a strong UGA team getting absolutely throttled by Auburn at Auburn one year. UGA was already locked into the SECCG. There was a rematch in the SECCG and UGA spanked Auburn. There was a lot of talk about Kirby not really trying to win at Auburn because he already had the East won and he rested players and called a very vanilla game.

College has fully become the NFL JV.

Think about a classic end-of-year matchup with Michigan and OSU. That game will be virtually meaningless.

TheUSC1801 · May 7, 2026

Playoff expansion was inevitable, in my opinion.

Some proponents of it said it gave value to more regular season games. I naively thought all regular season games mattered. I still like college football, but the playoff has lessened my enjoyment

paladin181 · May 7, 2026

AFCA has no actual authority and while I don't doubt we're going to a 24 team playoff at some point, the American Football Coaches Association isn't anything in the world of College football and how it is adjudicated or managed.

RL09 · May 7, 2026

Piscis said:
24 teams is ridiculous. 12 has proven to be too many. This will mean that pretty much every team ranked in the top 25 will be in the playoff.

I still think 8 is the magic number. 3 rounds and it is over.

I agree, 8 is enough

AFCA votes for 24-team playoff

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