The College Football Playoff is reportedly closing in on a deal to expand to 24 teams starting in 2027, just three years after jumping from four teams to 12. Plenty of people around the sport are against making the field even bigger, but one of the most successful coaches in college football history has started to come around to it.
Three-time national champion Urban Meyer admitted this week that he originally “couldn’t stand the idea” of a larger playoff, but said that the parity this season has changed his mind. Still, he made it clear that he isn’t on board with one major part of the plan.
24-Team Playoff on the Way
The CFP has been negotiating with ESPN on a new format, and the 24-team field looks increasingly likely. According to Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports, the four power conference champions and the highest-ranked Group of Six champion would receive automatic bids, with the rest of the field made up of at-large teams.
The first round would be played on the campuses of the higher seeds in the second week of December. And Dellenger reported that commissioners have even discussed holding first- and second-round games on weeknights.
But to make room for the larger field, “conference championship games are eliminated,” according to Dellenger. The Army-Navy game and the Heisman Trophy ceremony would likely shift up a week to the first Saturday in December.
Plenty of coaches are fine with that. The American Football Coaches Association reportedly voted in May to support a 24-team playoff and to discontinue conference championship games.
‘The Parity Is Unbelievable’
Meyer opened up about the expansion on The Triple Option podcast, which he co-hosts with Mark Ingram and Rob Stone.
“At first I couldn’t stand the idea,” Meyer said on the podcast. “I just thought you would dilute the product, but what I’m witnessing this year, and we’re all learning, is that the parity is unbelievable.”
It’s easy to see why Meyer feels that way. Texas was ranked No. 1 in the country just a few weeks ago before losing back-to-back games to Oklahoma and Florida, and Ohio State lost to the Longhorns in Week 2.
But Meyer isn’t willing to give up on conference championship games, and he had a pointed message for the people who are.
“The only concern I have, and I’ll keep saying this as long as I’m around, those who say that conference championship games are not important, I will say never played in it, never coached in it, and never won a ring,” Meyer said.
“I think conference championship games are one of the most exciting things that have ever happened in my lifetime and certainly for my players,” he continued.
Meyer knows those games better than most. He won two SEC titles at Florida and three Big Ten titles at Ohio State, including the 2014 Big Ten title game, when Ohio State routed Wisconsin 59-0 on its way to a national championship.
Clearly, Meyer has come a long way on playoff expansion. But if conference championship games are on their way out, it sounds like he’s going to keep fighting for them.
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