Bullet point summary by AI
- The College Football Playoff may expand to 24 teams by 2026. This shift aims to boost revenue and include more powerhouse programs in the title hunt.
- The plan features a 24-team bracket where the top eight seeds earn byes. High seeds would host early rounds, creating intense on-campus playoff atmospheres.
- Expansion helps the Big Ten and SEC dominate. While more teams get a shot, critics worry it marginalizes Group of Six schools and overcomplicates selection.
There’s usually a good reason for expanding things. In most cases, it’s a way to keep the competitive balance in play and present an entertaining product. In the case of college athletics, it’s a money-hungry approach to include the haves (the Power 4 conference teams) and further exclude the have-nots (the measly ol’ Group of 5 teams). The NCAA Tournament (men’s and women’s) is expanding to 76 teams from 68 and the College Football Playoff is moving closer to a 24-team playoff field.
This isn’t a terrible idea, but it certainly feels forced. The CFP format had a four-team format for 10 years before it was expanded to 12 teams. In the two years that we’ve had a 12-team playoff, there have been format changes. Now there’s serious talk of nearly doubling the field. It’s a crazy idea, but could it actually work? The pros and cons of yet another expansion are at the forefront as college football continues to evolve.
Predicting what a 24-team College Football Playoff field would look like in 2026
According to Yahoo Sports, a 24-team field would feature the top eight seeds getting a first-round bye and the first two rounds of the CFP to be played on the higher seeds’ campuses. That’s great when you think about what a College Football Playoff atmosphere means to the pageantry of college football. Expanding also means adding two more rounds worth of games, expanding the season by nearly another month. Here’s what the first-round matchups would have looked like with the 2025 CFP rankings.
24-team College Football Playoff field in 2025
|
TEAM (SEED) |
OPPONENT |
|---|---|
|
No. 1 Indiana Hoosiers |
Bye |
|
No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes |
Bye |
|
No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs |
Bye |
|
No. 4 Texas Tech Red Raiders |
Bye |
|
No. 5 Oregon Ducks |
Bye |
|
No. 6 Ole Miss Rebels |
Bye |
|
No. 7 Texas A&M Aggies |
Bye |
|
No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners |
Bye |
|
No. 9 Alabama Crimson Tide |
No. 24 James Madison Dukes |
|
No. 10 Miami Hurricanes |
No. 23 Iowa Hawkeyes |
|
No. 11 Notre Dame Fighting Irish |
No. 22 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets |
|
No. 12 BYU Cougars |
No. 21 Houston Cougars |
|
No. 13 Texas Longhorns |
No. 20 Tulane Green Wave |
|
No. 14 Vanderbilt Commodores |
No. 19 Virginia Cavaliers |
|
No. 15. Utah Utes |
No. 18 Michigan Wolverines |
|
No. 16 USC Trojans |
No. 17 Arizona Wildcats |
I must say, there are some intriguing matchups with this format, using the rankings from last season. Utah going up against Michigan, giving Kyle Whittingham the perfect shot at vengeance for his former team. That might end up being the game of the first round. Though you can’t ignore the fact that Texas, which struggled against inferior opponents in 2025 would have a tough test against a Tulane team that was good enough to pull off the upset.
Projected 24-team College Football Playoff field for 2026
|
TEAM (SEED) |
OPPONENT |
|---|---|
|
No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes |
Bye |
|
No. 2 Oregon Ducks |
Bye |
|
No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs |
Bye |
|
No. 4 Notre Dame Fighting Irish |
Bye |
|
No. 5 Indiana Hoosiers |
Bye |
|
No. 6 Miami Hurricanes |
Bye |
|
No. 7 USC Trojans |
Bye |
|
No. 8 Ole Miss Rebels |
Bye |
|
No. 9 Texas Longhorns |
No. 24 UCLA Bruins |
|
No. 10 BYU Cougars |
No. 23 Washington Huskies |
|
No. 11 Alabama Crimson Tide |
No. 22 Utah Utes |
|
No. 12 LSU Tigers |
No. 21 Houston Cougars |
|
No. 13 Oklahoma Sooners |
No. 20 Illinois Fighting Illini |
|
No. 14 Arizona Wildcats |
No. 19 Tennessee Volunteers |
|
No. 15. Texas Tech Red Raiders |
No. 18 Texas A&M Aggies |
|
No. 16 Clemson Tigers |
No. 17 Michigan Wolverines |
In this fictional 24-team bracket, Ohio State is the No. 1 team and one of the eight teams to receive a first-round bye. Texas, Alabama, LSU and Oklahoma all host a first-round game on campus, because, of course, the SEC is going to field the most teams. Speaking of, in this mock CFP field, the SEC gets eight teams in the field. One of the biggest surprises would be UCLA making their CFP debut with first-year coach Bob Chesney.
Why a 24-team College Football Playoff field might not be a horrible idea
When you accept that college football is run by the SEC and the Big Ten and the happier they are, the better the sport will be, you start to conform your ideas to what the two heavyweights in college football think. Of course this is a ploy to get more P4 teams into the CFP. From a financial standpoint, there’s a lot of money for conferences (and even individual schools) to be made.
This is all contingent on the College Football Playoff selection committee getting it right, though too. Truthfully, adding more teams increases the margin for error for the selection committee. They struggled with deciding who should get in between Miami, Notre Dame and BYU so much that it nearly divided college football for a week and a half before the first round games in 2025.
As long as the committee uses this as a chance to eliminate any confusion, then expanding isn’t a bad idea. This isn’t an invitation to allow a 9-4 Iowa Hawkeyes team in because they were the leftover scraps in the Big Ten or an 8-5 Missouri team. This is about giving teams a chance to compete for a national championship that had a good enough season.
What does a 24-team playoff mean for the Group of 6 teams?
We know the P4 conferences have the most to gain, but what about the G6 teams? Well, it’s not good news for them. Based on last season’s final CFP rankings going into the playoff, James Madison and Tulane would have still gotten in while North Texas would have been left out at No. 25. But does Duke get in as a conference champion with 24 teams? If so, that boots one of the G6 teams out. How is that fair?
All adding 12 more teams to the field does is give the committee more excuses to rank underperforming P4 teams instead of the G6 squads that had a solid season. I would like to think the G6 teams would get more of a chance to get in, but it feels more like a way to keep them out. The expansion idea the Big Ten has floated still only gives G6 teams one automatic qualifier.
Yes, no G5 team that has made the CFP (whether it was the four-team or 12-team playoff) has yet to get a win against a P4 team. In theory, adding more G6 teams doesn’t necessarily mean we get more competitive matchups. It doesn’t mean every game is a slaughter either.
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