Playoff & bowls
40 entries tagged Playoff & bowls, newest first. Open in the filterable browser.
“Having more teams in a tournament to determine a champion is not going to make it worse.”
At Big Ten media days, Riley said Big Ten coaches were unanimous in favor of a 24-team CFP. He argued expansion would bring back better nonconference games and preserve intersectional rivalries like USC-Notre Dame.
No verbatim quote recorded for this entry; summary of the source only.
At Big Ten media days, Petitti said an expanded playoff would make the regular season better by keeping more teams in the CFP race into November and December, while acknowledging it could eliminate conference title games.
“We're not interested in finding the easiest path, we are focused on finding the right path.”
Opening SEC Media Days, Sankey pushed back on a 24-team CFP. He said there is no clear evidence of media interest, the calendar is already strained, and the sport needs to find the right path rather than the easiest one.
“I liked 16 initially. As I learned more about it, obviously, without the additional AQs, when 24 became part of the conversation, we've done our own conference due diligence around it, and we think it might be a great fit for us.”
At Big 12 Media Days, moved from backing 16 teams to saying a 24-team CFP without extra automatic qualifiers 'might be a great fit' for the Big 12, while protecting its title game.
“I think really the second Monday in January should be the latest that we play college football.”
Bjork said the bigger issue than 24 vs. fewer playoff teams is fixing the whole calendar. He wants the season over by the second Monday in January and the postseason reimagined as bowls fade, which is why he considers 24 teams the right number.
“The College Football Playoff expanding to 24 teams IS THE RIGHT MOVE for College Football to survive in the current landscape.”
Griffin argued on X that a 24-team CFP is necessary for the sport to survive. He said it would bring in revenue to cover rising player pay and let more networks carry playoff games, with losing conference title games as the price.
“Saturday should be sacred for college football, and every Saturday through the month of December should belong to college football.”
At the Orange Bowl, Lanning argued that college football has given up too many dates to the NFL. He said every December Saturday should belong to college football, with playoff games played each week so the season ends by Jan. 1.
No verbatim quote recorded for this entry; summary of the source only.
The CFBPA's 10-point 'Platform for Change' calls for collective bargaining covering independent medical care, safer practice standards, long-term health protections, a protected offseason, revenue sharing with league minimums, and player-negotiated free agency/eligibility rules and season length/playoff expansion. It also wants union-facilitated group NIL and union certification of agents.
“I have conversations all the time with (Kirk) Herbstreit and we're of the opinion that the national championship game should be played here every year, no matter what.”
Proposed holding the CFP national championship at the Rose Bowl every year, and said Herbstreit agrees.
“We need to standardize the schedule across the board if we want to have objective criteria for who should be in the playoff and who shouldn't, and we need to take the decision making off the (CFP) Committee to some degree.”
At Big Ten media days, Cignetti defended Indiana's soft nonconference schedule by saying it had adopted the SEC's scheduling philosophy. He proposed that every Power Four league play nine conference games, with automatic bids and conference play-in games (3 vs. 6, 4 vs. 5) on championship weekend.
“We want to better connect the regular season & postseason. We want more conference games to matter in November.”
At Big Ten media days, Petitti pitched a playoff format with more automatic bids for the Big Ten and SEC so more conference games matter in November, and said models that lean more on committee picks would struggle to win Big Ten support. The Big Ten was also the lone FBS league backing a spring portal window over January.
“Also, the playoff format should not function as a disincentive to schedule tough, nonconference games.”
Petitti said any postseason format should keep as many teams alive as long as possible and shouldn't discourage teams from scheduling tough nonconference games.
No verbatim quote recorded for this entry; summary of the source only.
At 2025 SEC Media Days, Sankey defended the CFP memorandum of understanding that gives the SEC and Big Ten decision-making authority on the format. He said that without an agreement the 5+7 12-team model could simply stay.
“I wish there was a cap.”
At Big 12 media days, Sanders called for an NFL-style salary cap with transparent, regulated pay, arguing that booster-funded spending decides who makes the playoff.
No verbatim quote recorded for this entry; summary of the source only.
Endorsed Nick Saban as a commissioner of college football while criticizing the CFP for leaving out three-loss SEC teams in favor of SMU and Indiana.
“I just like more access.”
Days before the CFP approved 12 teams, Kelly, a former Division II coach, backed expansion because it gives more teams access and keeps more teams in the hunt later in the season.
“In my life, I've never voted or signed a contract where I don't know the financial terms of that contract.”
On The Dave Pasch Podcast, Kliavkoff said the Pac-12 supported 8- and 12-team formats. He voted no only because the proposal ran past 2025 without any agreement on revenue split, and because he wanted protection for the Rose Bowl's traditional window.
No verbatim quote recorded for this entry; summary of the source only.
Phillips said it was not the right time for CFP expansion, pointing to unanswered athlete health questions, wider disruption from NIL and the new NCAA constitution, and the need for a holistic review of the sport.
“We are 100 percent supportive of expansion. We think it's the right thing to do. But it has to be at the right time, in the right format, for the right reasons.”
After the 12-team proposal failed, Warren said the Big Ten fully supported expansion but only with the right format and timing, with revenue sharing, the academic calendar and mental health settled first. The Big Ten also favored automatic bids for Power 5 champions.
“Science will tell you you can't keep hitting these guys and expect them to be fresh and ready to go”
Drawing on FCS experience, said 15-16 game seasons are a grind that requires less hitting in practice.
“People say, It's just one more game. To me, that is a total lack of appreciation for what it takes to win a game”
Said 12-team expansion may be good financially and for fans 'but I don't think that's what is best for the player'; called 'it's just one more game' a lack of appreciation for what those games take.
“I think 12 teams is a huge step in the right direction. I personally would like to see 64, and you could map it out pretty easily.”
At SEC Media Days, Leach called the proposed 12-team CFP a huge step in the right direction but said he would personally like a 64-team bracket.
“I think the more you expand it, the less important the season becomes and the more you become the NFL.”
Swinney said he and his players opposed expanding the CFP to 12 teams, though he called it inevitable. He argued more expansion makes the regular season less important and turns the sport into the NFL, where teams rest starters once they're in.
“I'm a believer that more is not always better and increasing is not always better.”
Asked about expanding the four-team CFP, Warren said the sport should first study the effects on player health, academics and injuries. He said he wasn't yet ready for eight teams and would vote no at that point.
No verbatim quote recorded for this entry; summary of the source only.
Announced he would sit out the Sun Bowl to prepare for the draft, calling it a 'very tough decision'; along with Fournette, he sparked the debate over opt-outs from non-playoff bowls.
“All these young guys deciding to skip their bowl games 🤔.I would do anything to play one more time with my brothers in that scarlet and gray”
Initially criticized players skipping bowl games, then said it 'makes sense' for the injured Fournette and McCaffrey.
“It's best for my future.”
Skipped LSU's Citrus Bowl to prepare for the NFL draft, helping start the bowl opt-out trend.
“We are allowing the best teams in the country to determine a national champion on the football field, and as a coach, that's what you want.”
Stoops welcomed the newly approved four-team playoff because it lets the best teams decide the title on the field, and praised it for keeping the bowl experience and making regular-season games more important.
“It's a big part of the Big Ten culture and the Big Ten brand.”
During the 2012 playoff talks, Delany first lobbied to host semifinals on the higher seed's campus to protect the Rose Bowl. He later said that if a playoff was inevitable, the 'best four teams' should be picked by a committee.
“As long as I can go to the Rose Bowl, I don't really care.”
Delany opposed a four-team 'plus-one' playoff, calling it a slippery slope toward 8 or 16 teams and saying the only strong argument for it is financial. He said he was fine with dropping automatic BCS bids as long as the Big Ten kept the Rose Bowl.
“I don't necessarily think the slippery slope is theoretical. I think the slippery slope is practical.”
Delany argued that playoff expansion is a practical certainty rather than a theoretical risk, pointing to how the I-AA and basketball brackets grew.
No verbatim quote recorded for this entry; summary of the source only.
Swofford, who co-proposed the plus-one with Mike Slive in 2008, said he still supported it because it would give two more teams a shot at the title. He acknowledged worries that playoffs tend to grow.
“The collective presidents of America's major universities believe that the playoff system is not in the best interest of intercollegiate athletics or our universities.”
After President-elect Obama called for an eight-team playoff, Gee held firm, saying presidents of major universities believe a playoff isn't in the best interest of college athletics.
“There's a strong sense in that room of the slippery-slope view that there's never been a collegiate or professional playoff that's stopped at four teams.”
Explaining why commissioners rejected the 2008 plus-one, Delany cited the view that no playoff has ever stopped at four teams.
“There's no such thing as standing pat.”
Slive formally proposed a seeded plus-one (1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3 in BCS bowls, with a title game a week later, plus an extra BCS bowl). Only the SEC and ACC wanted to keep discussing it, and Slive said there's no such thing as standing pat.
“The seeded model looked like a playoff, and we don't think a playoff is in the best interest of college football.”
Tranghese said he preferred an unseeded plus-one, where the title matchup is set after the bowls, over a seeded model that looked like a playoff.
“I believe the time has come for the NCAA to take control of the college football postseason.”
Reversing 20 years of opposition, Adams urged the NCAA to take control of the postseason with a four-team playoff after the major bowls, and to cut the regular season back to 11 games. He said the BCS had lost public confidence and TV networks had become too powerful.
“Maybe the NCAA can be Switzerland here.”
Brand said there was a new willingness to discuss a football playoff and offered the NCAA as a neutral place for those talks.
“They will wrench a playoff system out of my cold, dead hands. It's too much like moving toward having universities being farm clubs for the pros.”
Gee flatly rejected a playoff, arguing it would push universities toward being farm clubs for the pros.
“To a person, we expressed our support for the current BCS system.”
White criticized Georgia president Michael Adams's playoff push and said SEC presidents had unanimously rejected the idea in 2007 and supported the BCS.
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