After the recent Big Ten meetings concluded, Tony Petitti doubled down on a 24-team playoff (PO) field.

The Big Ten noted that if college football (CFB) had a 24-team field beginning in 2014, the year the field expanded to four teams and OBD played for a title, 80 programs would have made the PO.

The Athletic (NY Times $ site) broke down how many appearances the 80 programs would have qualified for.

Leading CFB with 12 appearances - Alabama and Ohio State. That's a PO 12 appearances in 12 seasons. (I know. You're shocked, right? 😁)

22 G6 teams would have qualified for at least one PO appearance.

The ACC, B12, and Notre Dame support expanding the field to 24. The SEC is the lone holdout, but SEC commissioner Greg Sankey admits that his conference is a house divided between a 16-team or a 24-team field.

For example, the president of the University of Georgia wants no more than 16 teams. Not surprising, as UGA would have made 10 PO appearances.

Every SEC team would have qualified for a 24-team PO. However, with one appearance, the presidents, athletic directors, and coaches of Arkansas and Vanderbilt have a different perspective than that of Georgia.

A decision on whether to expand the field from 12 to 24, the Big Ten will not agree to a lesser number of teams, has to be made by December 1, 2026.

The B1G 10 teams by PO appearances: 12 - Ohio State / 8 - Michigan, and Oregon / 7 - Penn State, and USC / 6 - Iowa (the same number as Texas, Ole Miss, and Oklahoma State) / 5 - Washington / 4 - Michigan State, Northwestern, and Wisconsin / 3 - Indiana (and Boise State) / 2 - UCLA / 1 - Illinois, and Minnesota.

A B1G Zip, Zero, Nada, Nudge - Rutgers, Maryland, Purdue, and Nebraska 🤪. (With Nebraska, Matt Ruhle is 0-9 vs. the Top 25, 2-25 in his career.)

How long can Sankey, on behalf of ESPN, and not on behalf of many of his member programs, especially the programs most in need of additional PO revenue, hold out?

Sankey also aggressively supports playing a conference champ game that many SEC coaches, including Lane Kiffin, don't want to play.

If the NCAA managed an FBS PO instead of a media company hosting a bowl extravaganza, the field would have been at 24 in 2014.

Tennessee coach Josh Heupel has come out in favor of 24.

Here's a take from Texas A&M coach Mike Elko. (I have yet to see a plan from those who abhor 24 that would raise close to the same money.)

'A lot' of people in college football could be headed to bankruptcy

Given the number of uninteresting/noncompetitive first round games last year with only 12 teams in the field, I can only imagine how bad that round will be in a 24-team field. More money to more teams has little meaning if the games become so boring that viewers tune out and/or gravitate heavily to the NFL playoffs for postseason excitement. I fear we could end up killing the Golden Goose if we are not careful and grovel too hard for the all mighty $$$$. Call me a cynic but that's my opinion and I'm sticking with it until proven wrong

I wouldn’t call this cynical. The core of what made CFB special (to me at least) was how important the regular season was.

For me, ideally, if the expanded playoff took the place of the bowl system completely, I’d be great with 24. If we have four loss teams making the playoffs, I really don’t want to regularly see teams with losing records playing any form of post-season.

And that’s the problem for me, I’ll be shocked if the bowl system is reduced one iota. The more college sports professionalizes, the more I find myself asking “why am I watching the lesser pro sport at all”… and the answer is OBD. If I wasn’t an OBD fan I’d probably pivot to the highest level of pro sports completely.

10 hours ago, Nevada Dawg said:

Given the number of uninteresting/noncompetitive first round games last year with only 12 teams in the field, I can only imagine how bad that round will be in a 24-team field. More money to more teams has little meaning if the games become so boring that viewers tune out and/or gravitate heavily to the NFL playoffs for postseason excitement. I fear we could end up killing the Golden Goose if we are not careful and grovel too hard for the all mighty $$$$. Call me a cynic but that's my opinion and I'm sticking with it until proven wrong

Edited May 29May 29 by JabbaNoBargain

I'd like to see 16 with a home game for 1-8 in the first round. 24 seems like over kill but may help a few G6 teams sneak in and possibly upset some over rated mid SEC and BIG teams which could add a little March Madness fun before things get serious in the later rounds.

11 hours ago, Nevada Dawg said:

Given the number of uninteresting/noncompetitive first round games last year with only 12 teams in the field, I can only imagine how bad that round will be in a 24-team field. More money to more teams has little meaning if the games become so boring that viewers tune out and/or gravitate heavily to the NFL playoffs for postseason excitement. I fear we could end up killing the Golden Goose if we are not careful and grovel too hard for the all mighty $$$$. Call me a cynic but that's my opinion and I'm sticking with it until proven wrong

ND, your view is not cynical, and concern about what a 24-team PO would do to the CFB regular season is shared by many.

The Athletic ($ wall) posted an article yesterday where they asked lower division coaches what effect playoffs with large fields have on the regular season. Of course, millions of fans are not tuning in weekly to watch these teams play ball.

FCS has a 24-team field. D2 30 teams. D3 40 teams. None of the coaches interviewed said that they sat players during the regular season over playing in the PO concerns. All of the coaches interviewed said that every game is important for seeding purposes, especially with all games played on campus before the champ game.

The coaches noted that the strength of the schedule is the key factor when the NCAA PO committees create and seed the field. All of the coaches said they schedule competitive OOC games for this reason.

The FCS coaches noted that if your team is in the PO year after year, like North Dakota State, it can take the players a longer time to recover. But for the most part, their players are not three years and then off to the NFL.

Based on the 2025 season's final AP Poll, this would have been a 24-team field. The 1st- and 2nd-round games would be played on campus. The eight teams with first-round byes would only sit out a week to ten days. No rematches would be allowed in the 1st round.

The season would begin a week earlier and end two weeks earlier. No conference champ games is a sticking point for the SEC, but as Steve Sarkisian noted yesterday, flex-scheduling would allow for a conference champ game to be played the last week of the regular season, without the wear and tear of a 13th game on two teams likely in the playoff field.

1. Indiana vs. 17 Iowa at 16 UVA

2. Miami vs. 18 Tulane at 15 Vanderbilt

3. Ole Miss vs. 19 JMU at 14 Utah

4. Oregon vs. 20 USC at 13 Oklahoma

5. Ohio State vs. 21 Michigan at 12 Texas

6. Georgia vs. 22 Houston at 11 BYU

7. Texas Tech vs. 24 North Texas at 10 Notre Dame (to avoid a repeat of the Navy game, N. TX. and Navy switch 1st-round opponents.)

8. Texas A&M vs. 23 Navy at 9 Alabama.

As we have in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd rounds (SIGH) with a 12-team PO field, there will be blowouts. Of course.

But in the above scenario, Texas isn't punished for losing a game in Columbus. 2-loss BYU is in the field along with Notre Dame. 4-loss Iowa is in the field, but Iowa lost close games to good teams and defeated 2-loss Vandy in its bowl game, and ACC conference runner-up UVA is in the field.

I'm tuning in to watch USC at Oklahoma with the winner playing Oregon in Autzen Stadium. UGA vs. BYU would be a terrific intersectional game, and UGA would play a game 'Tween the Hedges after a short break instead of playing a team coming off a victory in the Sugar Bowl.

Four G6 teams make the field. I think JMU would have given Utah all it could handle. I'm tuning in to watch the Midshipmen march into Bryant-Denny before playing a game in Tuscaloosa.

A 24-team PO would lift all of CFB financially. If CFB cannot sell its additional game inventory to media companies, where does it go for much-needed cash? 24-teams is the best chance to save the ACC and B12 and prevent or at least slow the coming of CFB NFL-Lite.

Why is Tony Petitti opposed to a 16-team field? Using the final 2025 PO committee rankings, the Big Ten had three teams in the field, the SEC five. If the field had been 16-teams, the Big Ten would have had three teams in the field, the SEC seven.

3-loss Bama made the field even though suffering a conference champ game beatdown at the paws of your Dawgs. 2-loss Utah suffered its second loss in the B12 champ game and did not get in.

No one outside of the SEC trusts a PO Committee that does its business in the dark.

I repeat, you are not being cynical. Your POV is shared by many CFB fans. I can only say that at 79 years of age, I have heard that expanding the PO field would ruin the regular season for many sports. It hasn't happened.

Best of fortune to the Dawgs in 2026.

From On3 Brett McMurphy ($ wall) at the SEC meetings in Florida:

"SEC coaches say they were misled about nine-game schedule and 16-team playoff."

Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz - 'We were told the Big Ten would vote to expand the playoff to 16 teams.'

BETMGM - Only Georgia and Texas are projected to win nine or more games in 2026.

As reported yesterday by On3, a majority of SEC ADs want a 24-team PO. The Georgia Prez is opposed to 24, but if the PO had gone to 24-teams in 2013-14, Georgia would have been in the field 10 times, other SEC teams besides Alabama, not so many.

In this case, the tail could wag the Dawgs.

Down in Dixie, it's all good, right? He certainly has an argument, but 'by far?'

I love watching SEC football, but this It Just Means More stuff is getting old and cold. Enough Huey-Bris stuff, please.

Tony Petitti is no longer CFB's piñata.

On3

Greg Sankey: SEC is strongest, most competitive conferenc...

Greg Sankey told reporters Wednesday the SEC is the strongest and most competitive conference in college football "by far."

Skankey math=0 is greater than 3, that is very interesting math.

With Texas Tech, BYU, Utah, Arizona, and Houston in a 24-team 2025-26 PO field, the B12 coaches wanting 24 comes as no surprise.

AP News

Big 12 coaches unanimously agree on their preference for...

Big 12 coaches are in unanimous agreement on their preference for a 24-team College Football Playoff.

The SEC would have added Texas and Vanderbilt.

The ACC would have added UVA and Georgia Tech.

The Big Ten would have added USC, Michigan, and Iowa.

And there would have been no Pity Party in South Bent.

2 hours ago, Jon Joseph said:

Best of fortune to the Dawgs in 2026

As an 80-year-old, I think that the importance of the regular season has already been lessened to some extent by expansion of the playoffs from 2 to 4 teams, although favored that move, as well as a move to 8 or 12 teams. But as much as I value tradition and the pageantry of college football, I think that a 24 team field erodes the fabric of the game I have followed for 70 years. As you have pointed out, there are some solid points to be made for a doubling of teams in the dance, so I guess I'll cross my fingers and hope for the best. But suspect I will be skipping the games that project as blowouts.

This isn't college basketball in which a team with far fewer resources can catch lightening in a bottle and make deep runs.

Teams like the Dawgs Ducks, and anybody else with millions to invest are at far greater advantage than, say, a Michigan vs. a San Diego state on the hardwoods.

2 hours ago, Nevada Dawg said:

As an 80-year-old, I think that the importance of the regular season has already been lessened to some extent by expansion of the playoffs from 2 to 4 teams, although favored that move, as well as a move to 8 or 12 teams. But as much as I value tradition and the pageantry of college football, I think that a 24 team field erodes the fabric of the game I have followed for 70 years. As you have pointed out, there are some solid points to be made for a doubling of teams in the dance, so I guess I'll cross my fingers and hope for the best. But suspect I will be skipping the games that project as blowouts.

This isn't college basketball in which a team with far fewer resources can catch lightening in a bottle and make deep runs.

Teams like the Dawgs Ducks, and anybody else with millions to invest are at far greater advantage than, say, a Michigan vs. a San Diego state on the hardwoods.

I definitely 'get it,' my friend.

Blowouts? I hope you didn't watch the last two Rose Bowls or, GULP, last season's Peach Bowl. 🤬And I wonder, if Georgia had a week-long bye before playing Notre Dame and Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl, how would those games have turned out if the games had been played in Athens?

Not an exact comparison, but how about watching Georgia play Notre Dame and Ole Miss's 'Tween the Hedges? In the proposed 24-team format, teams with a first-round bye host a 2nd round PO game, rewarding fans with a home game.

If we could, I'd love to go back to a Pac-8 and a numerically correct Big Ten battling to play in the Rose Bowl that ended the season on January 1st, and if there were two teams anointed by the media as champions, no one died.

I'm sure you can recall waiting on New Year's Day to watch the Orange, Cotton, Sugar, and Rose Bowls, after watching one college football broadcast on a Saturday.

Players, parents, and guardians were grateful not to have to pay tuition, room and board, and the cost of books for their son to earn a college degree.

Bear Bryant, between his job coaching Alabama, after leading Kentucky to an SEC title, his coaching show, and endorsement income, never earned $500,000.00 per annum. Assistant coaches make far more today.

The main reason I want to go to 24 in this 'brave new world' of college football, I don't want to see the ACC and B12 go away, and CFB consolidate down to a Super Conference, NFL-Lite.

Millions of fans are invested in ACC and B12 football. And the G6 will also benefit from increased PO revenue.

Lots of red herrings being floated, including, 'How do we make up the conference champ game income?'

As Sark recently pointed out, echoing Tony Petitti when he first suggested a 24-team field, a flex schedule allows for a conference champ game.

If Texas plays A&M in the penultimate game of a regular season so it can play Georgia in the final week, at the end of a 15 or 16-game season, will anyone notice?

Not only can the champ game money still be there with a flex schedule, but the inequity with in-conference mega-conference scheduling could be abated by having No. 6 play No. 3, and No. 4 play No. 5, Cha Ching!

Go to 24, and a Big Ten-SEC football challenge will happen. Why not an ACC vs B12 challenge?

And it's not like Tony Petitti, an astute businessman, did not listen to his critics. Under the revised format, you have 23 at-large teams and a G6 team if not ranked in the top 25.

Go to 24, end the ESPN monopoly with Fox, CBS, NBC, TNT, and others bidding for PO broadcast rights? It's only ESPN talking heads who believe that PO broadcast revenue will not exponentially increase.

Another bonus. The season would begin and end earlier. And there would not be a season like we have in 2026 with only one bye week.

Again, I understand and, in many ways, empathize with your POV. But it was, in most respects, an amateur game when we played and watched growing up. Today?

PS - I'm watching the golf, and I love watching Georgia grad, Brian Harmon, golf his ball. Corey Pavin was the 'Gutty Little Bruin.' Brian is the Gutty Little Dawg.

Takes on the SEC and B1G Meetings - All hands on deck on CFB B1G - SEC Looking at a Mutiny?

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/48903422/college-football-spring-meetings-buzz-sec-big-ten-cfp

March madness works because with only five guys on the court one or two future pros on a team can have a massive impact for a small school. Davidson make a run with Steph Curry. Indiana St made the finals with Larry Bird. San Francisco won a couple championships with a guy named (checks notes) Bill Russel.

Football involves many more moving parts which narrows the field to a few viable teams a year. tOSU won it at #8 and Miami made the championship at #10 so I'd say 16 teams sounds about right. Twenty four teams just sounds like a money grab but that may also be important in the NIL era.

4 minutes ago, The Kamikaze Kid said:

March madness works because with only five guys on the court one or two future pros on a team can have a massive impact for a small school. Davidson make a run with Steph Curry. Indiana St made the finals with Larry Bird. San Francisco won a couple championships with a guy named (checks notes) Bill Russel.

Football involves many more moving parts which narrows the field to a few viable teams a year. tOSU won it at #8 and Miami made the championship at #10 so I'd say 16 teams sounds about right. Twenty four teams just sounds like a money grab but that may also be important in the NIL era.

Spot on comment.

It is a money grab. This is a needed money grab that will also open other avenues of income, such as a B1G/SEC football challenge. How about four SEC/B1G OOC matchups every week in the first three weeks of the regular season? CHA-CHING!

No conference champ game revenue? This is a red herring. As Steve Sarkisian noted, if a conference flex schedules, the championship game can be played in the final week of the regular season.

Going to 24 will end ESPN's PO broadcast monopoly. Fox, CBS, NBC, and others will all likely make PO broadcast bids.

Kill the regular season? Millions of CFB fans will be invested in their team's chances to make a 24-team field, the seeding of the field, and millions more will watch PO games, including the 16 games played on campus in the first two rounds.

Tony Petitti is a businessperson with a law degree from Harvard who worked in the professional sports broadcast business. He is not some guy who coached women's golf like a commissioner down in Dixie; the additional dollars he projects from a 24-team PO will happen.

If you cannot leverage football game inventory, then the alternative will be private equity deals, loans, and/or a Super Conference that will knock many ACC and B12 teams, and possibly lower-level B1G and SEC teams, out of competing for a playoff championship.

3 hours ago, Jon Joseph said:

How about four SEC/B1G OOC matchups every week in the first three weeks of the regular season?

Can you say....MUST-SEE TV?