Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger reported that the White House, specifically a 14-member presidential “media” committee, has stepped in to coalesce around a 24-team playoff format. The idea is to maximize revenue for financially stressed schools. Although college football is stuck between what it was and what it’s clearly becoming, surprisingly, head coaches aren’t.

Georgia’s Kirby Smart told On3 that he’s 50-50 on his decision for a 16- or 24-team format: 

“I’d split it right down the middle, and most coaches are going to say more is better than less. But I can live with either one of those two. I don’t think there’s a huge difference.” 

The only thing that really matters right now is that there should be more than the current 12 teams in the playoffs. And that stance is getting more popular each day as programs feel that expansion is inevitable. Tennessee’s Josh Heupel leaned all the way in, saying 24 teams “probably makes the most sense” in a fast-changing sport. But Texas’s Steve Sarkisian doesn’t agree.

“I was adamant in our meeting that if we’re not going to go to 16, I’d rather go back to four,” he said. “But if we’re going to go to 24, if we’re going to go up, OK. But 12 is the worst number. Go to 16 or go to 24.”

Sarkisian is speaking from experience. The Longhorns went 9-3, lost a close one to Ohio State, and still got left out. That’s why he feels that the current format isn’t satisfying anybody. And just when you think the SEC is ready to sprint toward 24, Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer somehow slows it down. The reason? He sees the math problem coming.

DeBoer understands and points out that a team that does not get a first-round bye will have to win five playoff games to earn the title.

SEC teams play nine conference games and at least one P4 non-conference opponent. In contrast, the Big Ten’s recent national champs don’t take that same risk outside their league to ensure an undefeated path. 

“You want every game in the regular season as meaningful as possible,” DeBoer said. “But I think there’s some easy math to figure out how to make it work for 16 for sure. It’s probably a little more complicated beyond that, but 24 is something we should be looking at.”

Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz, meanwhile, wants a redesign: 

“Then determine on the field who are going to be the 12 teams that make the playoff. If we’re going to cross-compare games or we’re going to cross-compare teams and resumes, let’s just take that out of the equation.”

Still, not everyone is on board with the idea. Texas A&M’s Mike Elko dropped his views on how it affects the regular season:  

“But if you’re going to turn over half the coaches in this conference when they don’t make the playoff, then yeah, let’s put it at 40.” SEC coaches weren’t the only ones to speak on the format. 

Big Ten coaches weigh in on the 24-team format

Ohio State’s Ryan Day is looking at this from a calendar POV. His issue isn’t just how many teams get in, but how the whole thing flows. Because right now, it doesn’t, as bye-weeks are backfiring and layoffs are too long. 

“We’re trying to combine a model that was traditional in terms of the way that we scheduled college games and crown a national champion with a playoff system, and the gap in the middle of that playoff, the way it’s organized, is really clunky,” he said. 

Day is talking about the traditional NFL model, which prioritized the regular season and historical bowl tie-ins over a structured bracket. A standard season had 11-12 season games, with 13-14 being the maximum. There was a gap of three to four weeks between the regular season and the bowl games.

Now, college football is asking amateur athletes to endure a professional-length season of 16 or 17 games. Further, they lack the rosters, recovery, and depth to support this schedule. His main take is to expand the playoffs, but fix the foundation while you’re at it.

And just when you think you’ve heard every angle, Michigan’s Kyle Whittingham comes in and flips the whole table. He’s not just thinking about 16 or 24. He’s thinking about a super league featuring 48 to 60 games with an NFL-style structure.

“To me, 16 is the right number,” he said. “But only in a super-conference structure. You govern yourselves. The NCAA is not involved, and you have your own commissioner.”

Like it or not, a change is on the way. The Big Ten pushed 24 while the SEC leaned 16. So the playoff stays at 12 for now. But it’s more like a pause before a major move because there’s already talk of a stepping-stone approach: 16 teams by 2027, then 24 shortly after. As ACC’s Jim Phillips pointed out, teams are still getting left out that could win it all—like the 2023 Florida State exclusion.