The 12-team College Football Playoff began last night, and while the long-anticipated expanded playoffs were exciting, they felt a bit unfulfilling.
Lane tweet
As a kid, I watched many more mythical national championships than my fair share. This experience evolved into the era of computer rankings, the BCS, the four-team playoff, and ultimately the 12-team playoff.
There is already discussion about expanding to 14 teams in 2026. But why stop there?
The FCS playoffs expanded to 24 teams in 2013. While the same teams from Montana and the Dakotas advance each year, there are no complaints about schools being excluded.
The 12-team playoff has achieved that. It leaves us wondering and asking, "What if?" A 14-team format will not provide those answers.
This year, I believe most college football fans would agree that there are at least five teams that were left out of the playoff and could have potentially made a run for the championship. Adding one extra team from the SEC and Big Ten will still leave us questioning the selections.
The solution expands to 24 teams. Since there is no commissioner of college football, here is how I would approach it.
Cancel the conference championship games
Outside the SEC and Big Ten, attendance at these events has been questionable. The ACC and Big 12 both claimed championship crowds of over 50,000, but anyone with the ability to see would likely dispute those figures.
I propose we limit the season to 12 games and proceed directly to the playoffs.
Eight byes in round one
In line with college football traditions, let's show some interest in small conferences, but only slightly more than we do today.
In my proposal for a 12-team playoff format, I suggest that the top six conference winners receive the top six seeds in the tournament, followed by the two highest-ranked at-large teams.
Congratulations to Army! If this system had been in place this year, you would have made the playoffs and earned a bye-only to lose to Navy. Oh well!
Scrap the home playoffs games
I reserve the right to change my opinion after watching the rest of the games this weekend.
I like to believe that fans will support their teams anywhere for the playoffs, but this isn't the case for bowl games. I attended the StaffDNA Cure Bowl yesterday, which featured two strong teams: Jacksonville State and Ohio. The announced attendance was 10,518, but the actual number was likely a bit lower.
Given that they all have charitable components, let's retain all the bowls and possibly add a few more, but also rotate some of the lesser bowl games to the opening and second round playoff sites.
There will still be plenty of bowl opportunities for teams that win 7 or more games. Nobody will feel sorry for any 6-6 teams being left out.
Take care of the SEC and Big 10
I understand the frustration about granting special privileges to certain conferences. However, I believe it is necessary in this situation. Some discussions about an expansion to 14 teams included the idea of guaranteeing four bids for these conferences.
Let's take it a step further and guarantee five spots for each conference! Based on this year's rankings, this would have resulted in five bids for the Big Ten and seven for the SEC.
The Field of 24
So here is what it would looked this year based on final CFP rankings.
Byes: Oregon, Georgia, Boise State, Clemson, Army, Arizona State, Texas, and Penn State
Other bowls I'm the rotation could include Arizona Bowl, Independence Bowl, Sun Bowl and more.
From there, it moves on to the New Year's Six bowls for the quarterfinals, semifinals, and the championship city awarded by bid.