The College Football Playoff began as a four-team model, but teams ranked five and beyond were a little miffed that they came so close and missed out. Eventually, after several complaints, the powers that be decided on a 12-team model. It was implemented to pretty good success in 2024, with Ohio State winning.
However, that hasn’t stopped the calls to redesign it again. The SEC president pitched a 16-team model with five conference leaders and 11 at-large bids. For now, it’s unchanging, but that hasn’t stopped plenty from pitching their ideas. That includes Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz, who pitched a mindnumbing idea.
“My math could be wrong here, but if we did the 12, okay, and you had four automatic qualifiers? Everybody thinks that’s limiting. It’s not limiting if you think about it from, you take those four automatic qualifiers and you divide that into eight opportunities, of eight play-in games,” Drinkwitz said via On3. “Now you’re thinking, the SEC is playing in for eight, the Big Ten is playing in for eight. Since we’ve expanded the bubble to 16, give three to the Big 12, three to the ACC, one, one.”
Yes, that amounts to 30 teams. “Now you’re talking about an opportunity for 30 teams, 30 fan bases to be excited and engaged, engaged in giving revenue. You’ve got 30 teams with players who have access to compete for a championship. So, for me, I think that makes a lot more sense,” he added.
Aside from the logistical nightmare that this implies, it’s a health nightmare, too. That means that there would be far more than the minimum three football games that a title-winner would have to play now. That means college seasons would start getting closer in length to NFL seasons, which isn’t a good thing. Players need to play less football to stay perfectly healthy, so adding on such a huge amount of teams for the playoffs is ill-advised.