What once seemed like a joke to be written off is rapidly turning into something that could be written into the rules sooner than expected: A 24-team College Football Playoff.
According to ESPN's Pete Thamel, an internal Big ten document has outlined what a 24-team postseason would look like. It would feature five rounds with 16 teams competing in the first in campus meetings, with those winners advancing to the second round against the top-eight teams (all coming off byes) and then continuing as normal.
Under the model, six Big Ten teams, seven SEC teams, five Big 12 teams, two Group of Six teams, three ACC teams and Notre Dame would have gotten in.
The Outrage
College football fans were deeply offended by such a proposal, pointing out that it would completely shatter the relevance of the regular season and offer a legitimate path for teams that were merely average in the regular season to contend for the national title.
"This is why College Football is the longest offseason in existence. Constant nonsense proposals that harm what makes College Football special, the regular season," one user lamented.
"Yay! 7-5 Tennessee/7-5 Iowa who has MAYBE 1 win over a bowl eligible team can get gifted a spot into the CFP at #23 in coming years! That’s excellent. Totally nukes the regular season," another argued.
"Nobody actually wants this. Even if you say you do, no you do not," a third declared.
"Yeah. This stinks."
"I love everything about the Big Ten's 24-team proposal except the beginning, the middle and the end."
Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
The expansion to the College Football Playoff from just four to 12 teams has proven enormously profitable already but the powers that be don't just want more money - they want all of it.
The 24-team college football playoff is probably going to be the ultimate goal of the top four conferences for a long time.