How Oklahoma State Would Have Fared in Expanded College Football Playoff

An expanded College Football Playoff appears to be coming for 2027.

On Friday ESPN reported that … ESPN and the College Football Playoff had agreed in principle to broadcast the additional inventory for a 24-team playoff. The television agreement was considered a key piece of the puzzle to get that expanded playoff to the finish line. There are still several votes and several other hurdles to clear, but the television contract agreement was a significant one.

Assuming everything is approved, that means that the Big 12 Conference should have more access to the postseason in 2027 than it's ever had before. That means a team like Oklahoma State doesn't necessarily have to win the conference to get in. It just needs to have a resume good enough in the eyes of the CFP committee.

Since the implementation of the BCS national championship game in 1998, the postseason has gone from two teams to four teams to 12 teams. But what would have happened to Oklahoma State had the 24-team playoff been implemented when the four-team playoff began in 2014? It would have been very good for the Cowboys.

An Expanded Cowboys Playoff History

Oklahoma State has never been to the College Football Playoff. It never got into the BCS, though the Cowboys came incredibly close in in 2011. In 2014, the College Football Playoff took over the postseason and expanded the playoff to four teams. Earlier this week, 247 Sports (subscription required) applied the 24-team system to the four-team and 12-team formats to see how every team would have done since 2014.

According to their research, Oklahoma State would have made the playoff six times since 2014. The only team in the current Big 12 that would have gone more often was Utah, which would have received eight bids, most of which would have been as part of the Pac-12.

Notably, former Big 12 members Oklahoma and Texas were calculated with the SEC. The Sooners would have gone to the postseason nine times while Texas would have gone six times.

The site also calculated that the Big 12 would have gotten an average number of four bids each year.

An expanded playoff would have given the Cowboys six opportunities to compete for a national championship under former head coach Mike Gundy. The most successful head coach in Oklahoma State history won 170 games but only led the Cowboys to one conference championship. But they were good enough to go to a bowl game nearly every year of his tenure and that consistency would have positioned Oklahoma State to do great things in this format.

The expansion of the playoff is controversial, but it bodes well for first-year Oklahoma State head coach Eric Morris, has the Cowboys positioned to compete this year. The new format would give him and his program new opportunities to compete on a national stage which would benefit Oklahoma State in the short term and the long term.