Central Michigan head football coach Matt Drinkall has opinions.
And he's never been that shy about sharing them.
"How long would you like me to answer?" Drinkall said with a smile, during a press conference this week.
The question Drinkall was asked was about the proposed expansion of the College Football Playoff, which, according to reports, appears poised to double to 24 teams for the 2027 season.
The CFP last expanded to 12 teams in 2024. The CFP launched as a four-team playoff in 2014.
Drinkall said the latest proposal is continuing the trend of college football power brokers chasing the almighty dollar, with little regard to what is best for the sport and the student-athletes.
"Everything since COVID has just 100% been reactionary," Drinkall said during his weekly press conference Tuesday, Oct. 20. "No one has ever said, 'OK, well, if we do this, what does this look like 15 years from now? What does this look like 10 years from now? Is this in the best interest culturally of everyone, or is it all, just how do I save my ass and make the most money right this second?'
"Whoever has to sell TV spots or tickets at every school or promote a conference, they're not interested in what's good for the sport of football. They're not itnerested in what's good for young people coming up. They want to know what makes my job the most amount of money right now.
"So everything since COVID (has been) all reactionary. Conference realignment, eligibility, paying players, transfer policies. None of it's good. None of it is in the best interest of the student-athlete."
Drinkall was just getting started in a rant that lasted longer than six minutes.
"It's just like everybody went nuts at once, and it's just been a downward spiral that is nonstop, until it's going to be a smoldering Dumpster fire left, like the Truffula Trees in 'The Lorax,'" Drinkall said, referencing Dr. Seuss. "They are going to ring the sport out for every cent they can, as long as they can, and prostitute the sport for financial gain until people stop caring, just like they did with boxing back in the '20s (1920s)."
"It's going to make whoever a bunch of money, everybody's going to watch for a while. When it starts to lose its luster, whatever that looks like, they're going to change it again and tell us it's in the best interest of everybody.
"... As long as we make money, who gives a s***?"
Drinkall said the proposed CFP expansion would continue the trend of pushing the sport into the professional realm, and it will render the regular season practically meaningless. Under a 24-team playoff, four-loss teams could theoretically make the field. He also said the proposal will continue widening the gap between the Power Four and the Group of Six, even though the current 12-team CFP guarantees one spot to the Group of Six and the proposed 24-team setup is likely to award one, as well. ("A carrot to dangle in front of everybody," Drinkall said.)
Drinkall also worries that the money is getting so big, and will continue to get bigger, for the Power Four football programs thanks in large part to lucrative TV deals, that there could come a day when those football programs make a push to stop sharing those revenues with the rest of the sports at their schools. That would seriously jeopardize the sustainability of nonrevenue sports. Big-time football programs largely subsidize entire athletic departments.
Drinkall even suggested this trend toward a more professional model in college sports could one day lead to the end of the NCAA, which already doesn't oversee the CFP.
"That's what's coming next," Drinkall said. "It's just a matter of how fast."
A final decision on whether the CFP will expand to 24 teams for 2027 — a proposal originally pushed by the Big Ten — is expected by Dec. 1. It is worth noting, the Division II football playoffs have 32 teams, and the Division III football playoffs have 40 teams. But they don't have the bowl-game setup that's long been a staple of big-time college football. The sustainability of the bowl system as we know it, too, is threatened by continued CFP expansion.
Several bowl games have pulled the plug in recent years, including, most recently, the GameAbove Sports Bowl at Detroit's Ford Field. Drinkall's Chippewas played in the Detroit bowl in 2025.
Drinkall, 43, is in his second season as head coach at Central Michigan. The Chippewas are 3-4 and coming off a 21-14 loss to chief rival Western Michigan. Central Michigan plays at home against Miami (Ohio) on Saturday, Oct. 24.
tpaul@detroitnews.com
@tonypaul1984
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Central Michigan coach rips proposed College Football Playoff expansion