COLLEGE STATION - Texas A&M coach Mike Elko is worried the expansion of the College Football Playoff to 24 teams could devalue the relevance of the regular season.
"The thing that makes this sport really special is its regular season, the pageantry of the regular season, how important the weeks of the games are during the regular season," Elko said. "I just hope that we don't lose that as a college football fan."
The College Football Playoff started in 2014 with four teams before expanding to 12 with the 2024 season. But it appears the field will double to 24 as ESPN reported last week that there is a handshake agreement between the network and the CFP. The new format would reportedly start next season.
For Elko, his thoughts on the 24-team playoff are based around rivalries and "games that you always circled on the calendar."
"So much of college football is about those really meaningful games," Elko said. "(It's not) hard to draw conclusions of what those last games of the regular season will look like if one team is clearly hosting a playoff game and they're not playing for a conference championship."
Elko hasn't been afraid to speak his mind on the changes occurring across the college football and college sports landscape, whether it is players returning from the professional ranks to play in college or asking for centralized leadership.
While Texas A&M's hopes to make the College Football Playoff are likely dashed with a 4-3 record and three conference losses already, Elko did lead the Aggies to their first playoff appearance last season. The 2025 Texas A&M team was also only the second Aggies squad to win double-digit games this century.
"You just worry about where this thing could go as you see what Week 17 in the NFL is like," Elko said, "you would hate for that to become rivalry weekend in college football."
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