College football coaches endorse 24-team playoff, eliminating conference title games

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NateDawgUM said:
In 10 years, some "visionary" media executive will roll in, restore the NCAA tournament to 64 teams, restore the bowl season and restore the regional conferences.

They will be showered in bonuses for "fixing" college sports.
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Most likely scenario?
 

GophersInIowa said:
I still think 12 is just fine. The issue with the top teams not advancing often is that they have such a long break between games. Almost 4 weeks off is too much. That's a big disadvantage.

I would add a 13th regular season game instead, play the 1st round the week after, and quarterfinals the week after that. Then the semifinals be around New Years with the championship a week or so later.

This past season it would have looked something like this:

Dec 6: last regular season game
Dec 12-13: 1st round
Dec 19-20: Quarterfinals
Jan 1: Semifinals
Jan 10: Championship

The longest break anyone ever has is 2 weeks. You could do the same with 16 teams, but that would take away much of the advantage of being a top seed.
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Correct
The bye should Be an advantage

But it isn’t because everyone gets a double bye
And those with a bye get a triple
 






Wonder how many players will bail out by not playing. College football has not been the same for the last few years and it's going to get worse.
 

Some guy said:
You’re seriously on a gopher football message board in 2026 and think there is no purpose other than to win a national title?

This is an insane takes. There are hundreds if not thousands of reasons to watch college football apart from your team winning a national title.
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Lots of reasons. Goal is still a title
 

60's Guy said:
I think eliminating conference playoffs is a good idea. I think 16 teams in the football playoffs is the right number but 24 gets more Big Ten and SEC teams in and allows the James Madison's and Tulane's to grab a spot as sacrificial lambs to the top seeds without leaving out Vanderbilt and Notre Dame, for instance.
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I'm old and my math is rusty, but with 24 teams I think some teams would get a bye. I think byes need to be eliminated. I'm 50/50 on the conference championship elimination, but an extra week will be needed if the playoffs are expanded. With the conferences getting so large and geographically spread out, the conference title games have generated less buzz. The only one that seems to matter anymore is the SEC championship game.
 



At a certain point you have to start shaving the number of regular season games if this expanded playoff is so important to the executives/people poised to make money. Youre putting these dudes who want to go to the NFL through an absolute grind and are potentially diluting the long term product by beating the piss out of them before they make the league. I dont like the NFL more than college, but it serves to make the sport shittier overall.
 

GooningGopher said:
I yearn for the days of the BCS
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BCS formula
12 team tourney with auto bid for any conference champ in top 25 + all others filled by at larges.
Formula does seeding.

High seed hosts until semifinals
Then 3 neutral site games for final 4

Who says no?

(Everyone says no)
 

The money grab never stops! The season gets longer and longer now that the coaches AND the players are getting paid. In a 16 team playoff, the finalists will play four games in addition their their regular schedule, making a 15-16 game schedule the norm. That’s a lot of football!
 

Some guy said:


Wild to me that ESPN has such a large voice.
The CFP is owned by the conferences (and Notre Dame). Youd think they’d do what they want then sell to the highest bidder.

Meanwhile, somehow ESPN has bamboozled college football into letting ESPN act as defacto college football commissioner and playoff selection committee.

If I’m the CFP. I don’t even want the games on espn. I want them on network. Even for a slightly lower bid it would be beneficial to be on multiple networks that are network TV for the cross promotional opportunities leading to long term more money.



And I might even agree with ESPN’s position on the issue
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Granted I'm benefitting from what has since come out the rest of the week, but it is interesting that Phillips then came out in support of the 24 team playoff as a league.

It makes too much sense for all of the other leagues to throw in with the Big Ten behind the 24 .... it gives everyone more access potentially.


For the Big Ten, it's a simple thing of more and more programs want (and need) to be able to say "we still had a great year, as proven by the fact that we made the playoff, that was one of our goals for the year".

The SEC really has the same problem, but at "only" 16 teams not quite as bad as the Big Ten and others.


As far as ESPN, I have to think that the next round of negotiations will open up the CFP to multiple network primary partners. ESPN is still the sole primary solely because they overpaid so much to be that, taking a huge risk (and paying off) on the first CFP contract, and then being the "easy button" this last time around. And they do sub-license out some, for whatever that's worth (nothing to the confs, which is what matters).
 



Some guy said:


Wild to me that ESPN has such a large voice.
The CFP is owned by the conferences (and Notre Dame). Youd think they’d do what they want then sell to the highest bidder.

Meanwhile, somehow ESPN has bamboozled college football into letting ESPN act as defacto college football commissioner and playoff selection committee.

If I’m the CFP. I don’t even want the games on espn. I want them on network. Even for a slightly lower bid it would be beneficial to be on multiple networks that are network TV for the cross promotional opportunities leading to long term more money.



And I might even agree with ESPN’s position on the issue
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I agree with the 16 team tournament as well. I'm anti-bye. Going to 24 makes the regular season less meaningful and if the regular season doesn't mean much in that case, why should it matter for touranment seeding. Going to 14 would reduce the "bye teams" to 2, but I still think the determination of who gets a bye is too arbitrary.
 

50PoundHead said:
I agree with the 16 team tournament as well. I'm anti-bye. Going to 24 makes the regular season less meaningful and if the regular season doesn't mean much in that case, why should it matter for touranment seeding. Going to 14 would reduce the "bye teams" to 2, but I still think the determination of who gets a bye is too arbitrary.
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So much is talked about being a ranked top 25 team. A 24 team aligns with that and keeps rankings meaningful (to an extent as the CFP is the only one that matters)

Also byes keep late season games meaningful. Hypothetically, with top 8 getting a bye, 9-16 would host. Teams in that 5-10 range of a ton to play for (even a bad loss for a high team could knock them out of a bye) and teams in that 16 range would be battling to host a playoff game. Imagine the atmosphere for Gophers v wisconsin if we're sitting at 16 with a chance to host a CFP game with a win
 

50PoundHead said:
I agree with the 16 team tournament as well. I'm anti-bye. Going to 24 makes the regular season less meaningful and if the regular season doesn't mean much in that case, why should it matter for touranment seeding. Going to 14 would reduce the "bye teams" to 2, but I still think the determination of who gets a bye is too arbitrary.
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All these expansion of the playoffs miss the number one issue

The arbitrary nature of the committee

I’m fine at 4, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 24


Until you go to a formula it’s not going to solve the stupidity of the committee
 

Some guy said:
All these expansion of the playoffs miss the number one issue

The arbitrary nature of the committee

I’m fine at 4, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 24


Until you go to a formula it’s not going to solve the stupidity of the committee
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People who pay for it don't want a computer to select the matchups, they want control for their money. Is basically what it comes down to.

A computer put Alabama and LSU in the national title game, and that was the end of the computer's run.
 

Some guy said:
All these expansion of the playoffs miss the number one issue

The arbitrary nature of the committee

I’m fine at 4, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 24


Until you go to a formula it’s not going to solve the stupidity of the committee
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Precisely. I still think byes should be eliminated largely because of the arbitrariousness (is that a word?) of who gets them. I feel pretty much the same way about too much expansion of the CFP--especially if it contains byes--if all it accomplishes is giving a home game to an also-ran.
 

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