Happy Monday all, today I take a look at the notion of the 24 team playoff.

The 24 Team Playoff Will be Bad but Popular

There is no stopping the College Football Playoff from expanding to 24 teams.

Thank you, David. One of the few times I disagree with you.

Iowa was 8-4 in the regular season and defeated 10-2 Vanderbilt in Dixie. 9-3 Illinois topped Tennessee in Nashville. Illinois rarely sniffed the top 25 during the season while the Vols were regular participants.

Using the committee's final poll, a 12-team PO gave us 3 B1G and 5 SEC teams. A 16-team field would have seen 3 B1G teams and 7 SEC teams.

The AO Poll has 5 SEC teams ranked between No. 6 Indiana and No. 14 USC. In the last two seasons, the Big Ten is 10-2 versus the SEC.

Tony Petitti is not falling for this rope-a-dope. 16 teams would be fine with automatic qualifiers, but Tony backed off the AC requirement, which is why he insists on 24, and every conference and Notre Dame agree on 24.

ESPN waterboy Greg Sankey is the lone holdout. Wait to see what happens this season when 3-loss SEC teams are left out of the field. With nine conference games, there will be several 3-loss SEC teams.

To stave off further CFB consolidation, the PO has to be more inclusive. More than one ACC and B12 team has to be in the mix; they need the dues.

A 24-team field will result in better out-of-conference matchups, including the possibility of an annual B1G vs SEC challenge. Cha-Ching!

To ease your concern, consider this: The Big Ten's proposed format is a 16-team PO with eight on-campus play-in games. And having 2nd-round games played on campus rewards the better teams and their fans.

But the conference champ game money! A red herring; flex schedule and play the champ game the final week of the regular season.

The 24-team format has the season ending far earlier than January 25th and also eliminates long waiting periods between games.

If a 24-team field is adopted, perhaps others will listen to another common-sense proposal from Tony. Signing day, the portal opening, and new coach hires will not happen before the PO is concluded.

Thanks again for another Monday with Marsh.

1 hour ago, Jon Joseph said:

The AO Poll has 5 SEC teams ranked between No. 6 Indiana and No. 14 USC. In the last two seasons, the Big Ten is 10-2 versus the SEC.

I think this is more of a matter of ranking problems. Of which I agree the rankings are awful. The B1G is grossly misrepresented and the SEC and Big 12 are both over represented. Yes.. the Big 12 has only put a total of 2 teams in the 12 team field but I think they're hard pressed to make a reasonable argument for more representation.

I feel 16 teams could be good. But 24 just feels ridiculous. I have some alternative ideas for future articles.

Also... This isn't my best. The draft was sitting there since June and I finally put it out there. I was too busy last week.

Marsh-Monday!

I am with Jon on this one, as I think the 24 team playoff could have SO MANY fans of so-many schools that now have shot at the playoffs that didn’t before.

It will create so intense close games, as I disagree with your “lousy games” assertion because NIL and the portal have balanced things out for a ton of teams. Sure, some teams will have more talent, but they have to PLAY superior on game day. That why I worry about games like Michigan after playing Ohio State, and playing a good team like Illinois on their home field.

You could make a case that NIL and the portal have changed things for USC, and with 24 teams getting in… more motivation for more teams.

The lineup of games to watch this fall with great coaches in the Big-10 is NEVER like before. Are we READY?!!

David, make no mistake. I respectfully disagree with the number of PO teams.

The article was well written, and your point captures the attitude of millions of CFB fans when it comes to PO expansion.

I want more inclusion, and as Charles notes, in this NIL era, many games that look to be blowouts on paper will be competitive. Looking at the AP Poll, I do not see a great deal of difference between the 12th and the 24th ranked teams, and there are simply too few data points to exclude teams with similar records.

The PO committee is win-loss fixated and SEC ranking-centric, based on what it perceives to be a brutal SEC conference game gauntlet like no other.

Eight on-campus games will replace conference championship weekend, eliminate a 13th game most ADs and coaches do not want to play, and allow teams to prove their bona fides or show that they were underrated.

I think No. 24 JMU at No. 9 Bama last season could have been a very interesting game. Same with No. 20 Tulane at No. 14 Vanderbilt.

I'm retired; you're working for a living, and your job performance will echo for decades. I'm grateful that you take the time to write and share your articles with us on the Forum.

Keep the articles coming, please.