FRISCO, Texas — The Big 12’s football coaches spoke in May with their vote when it came to College Football Playoff expansion.
Each of the 16 head coaches was asked which expansion format they preferred — if the playoff expanded. Everyone voted for the 24-team model. The model still has to be approved by all parties before it can be implemented.
Why? Many coaches were asked why during their time at Big 12 Media Days. Two — West Virginia’s Rich Rodriguez and Arizona’s Brent Brennan — each had their own takes.
Why Big 12 Coaches Want 24-Team Playoff
The current 24-team format being considered is different than the one the Big Ten floated last year, which was a non-starter for the other three conferences because of the imbalance in automatic bids.
This format would be a 23+1 format. The Top 24 teams would get in, including the highest-ranked team from the Group of 6 conferences. Rodriguez jokingly said he didn’t care about the number of teams.
“I personally don’t care if it’s 24 or 30 or 36 or 52 or 112, you know?” he said.
What he did care about was more access. What he did care about was more opportunity to showcase the conference. He appeared bought into how the system would have helped the Big 12 had it been around in 2025. In a 24-team playoff, five Big 12 teams would have made the playoff — Texas Tech, BYU, Utah, Arizona and Houston.
“There are a lot more teams in our conference that could compete nationally against the other teams, and they would see that in a playoff. … You give them the chance to compete against these other so-called power leagues, and you’ll see some positive results in our league,” Rodriguez said.
Brennan and his Wildcats would have benefited from the format had it been in place last year. Arizona would be coming off a playoff appearance as opposed to a great nine-win season with a bowl win.
But he aligned his vote with perhaps the best tournament in college sports and the hope that an expanded football playoff could be an equivalent one day.
“I take it back to March Madness,” Brennan said. “What a fun thing that is for America. What a fun thing that is as a sports fan. Why not have some level of that in college football? Right now, it just seems so exclusive. Why don’t we create a format or a system that is more inclusive and gives more people a shot of playing on that big stage?”
Until 1991 the national champion was determine by polls, including the Associated Press and the Coaches’ Poll, which still exist. In 1992 the Bowl Coalition was created to try and pit the No. 1 and No. 2 team in the last AP poll in the same bowl game for a pseudo national championship game. The Bowl Alliance replaced it in 1995 but both systems had trouble getting the Rose Bowl to participate.
In 1998 the Bowl Championship Series began, which included all conferences and used a computer ranking system to determine the Top 2 teams to play in the championship game, which rotated through the New Year’s Six Bowls.
The College Football Playoff started in 2014 with a four-team format and expanded to 12 teams in 2024.
