Just one year after the College Football Playoff expanded from four to 12 teams, the push is already on to increase that number. The Big Ten has reportedly begun working through a potential format that would see a playoff field with either 24 or 28 teams.
There’s of course been mixed reviews about this with college football analysts across the country calling the conference out for the idea. However, Penn State athletic director Pat power defended it in a recent press conference.
“It’s really early. It got out probably sooner than I think (commissioner) Tony (Petitti) wanted it to get out,” Kraft said. “Tony is very open with us, so we had seen it in a very rough format. I think it’s an interesting concept. I like it. I think it creates a lot of excitement for the regular season because — and this has got to get baked still — everyone looks at (automatic qualifiers).
“What I do think it does is it allows you to focus on your entire schedule a little bit more. Right now, you’ve gotta win games. If you’re gonna challenge yourself, how is the committee gonna look at you? I think that’s a really important piece to all of this. So everyone’s pushing back on the AQs and a lot of people are talking about that.”
The pushback on the idea isn’t just about doubling the field size, but also how it would change other aspects of the college football season. According to ESPN, a 28-team would include the elimination of conference championship games and creating more automatic bids for the Power Four conferences.
It would include seven spots for the Big Ten and SEC and five bids apiece for the ACC and Big 12. That would leave only two bids for non-Power 4 conference and two at-large spots.
Considering the College Football Playoff itself has been around for only 11 seasons, it’s a radical proposal from the Big Ten. It’s hard to imagine a field that would be seven times the size it was in 2023 while also knowing than a little more than a decade ago the BCS reigned king.
Still, Kraft warned fans that the idea is still in its infancy. He urged them to at least let the powers that be try to come up with a more fleshed out plan before judging it too harshly.
“I think in the room, we’re in a place where it’s like, ‘Let’s discuss every option,’” he said. “It’s in a place now that I would hope that the four commissioners can get in a room and discuss this. I think the critical issue is in order to get those games and put more games on you, we’re gonna have to look at championship weekend. That’s what I mean. This is so early, but I do appreciate Tony’s creativity in that space. But my perspective, I like it.
“Let’s go play games. Let’s have a tournament that we can go and compete in. We’re always trying to be the top seed. We’re trying to get home games and make sure we can be the No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 seed. Whatever that is to help us along. From just an AD perspective, I think it’s interesting and I hope we can continue to move it forward.”
