Basically, Fox woefully underbid for the 12-team CFP. They are pushing the 24-team CFP with the Big 10 taking the lead to try getting back in the game.
Interestingly, I didn't realize they had changed from having 4 AQs from the Big 10 and SEC to having 23 at-large bids (1 additional for the sacrificial lamb from G6). So they basically bribed the ACC into joining them by giving them the possibility of greater representation with the at-large bid model.
I mentioned yesterday about the shifting power dynamic between the Big 10 and SEC, but it also goes for ESPN and Fox. I've long felt that ESPN pulled all the strings for college football. They do NOT want a 24-team CFP (for their own selfish reasons). So it's set up as a battle royale between ESPN/SEC and everyone else. One thing in ESPN/SEC's favor: nobody really wants the 24-team CFP. I haven't any positive reporting on it. Fans, surprisingly, don't want it for the most part. The article lays out what some of the first round games would have been last year: UNLV/Boise State and Syracuse/Arizona State. You can slap the CFP logo on those games all you want. Nobody wants to watch UNLV/Boise State.
