The first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff wrapped up last month, with Ohio State defeating Notre Dame for the national championship.
While the new format delivered excitement, it also revealed potential flaws in seeding, automatic bids, and byes.
Despite some early hiccups, the expanded playoff appears here to stay, and the idea of reverting to a smaller field seems unlikely.
However, calls for further expansion have quieted after a season filled with lopsided results and a prolonged schedule.
ESPN’s Paul Finebaum is among those who believe the 12-team format is already pushing the limit.
“I feel like 12 teams are enough, probably too many, but it’s what we have, so we’re not going backward,” Finebaum said.
“I don’t see any compelling reasons to add more. I don’t care how good you are. I think you ought to prove it. It just smells of a level of elitism that I’m not a big fan of.”
This season’s expanded field sparked debates over which teams deserved a spot. SMU secured the final playoff berth over SEC contenders like Alabama, Ole Miss, and South Carolina.
Critics argued that while SEC and Big Ten programs may have more margin for error, every team still needs to earn its way into the postseason.
Finebaum acknowledges the strength of the SEC but questions a system that effectively guarantees certain conferences a higher number of bids.
“The SEC and the Big Ten will always get a pretty large number,” Finebaum continued. “Listen, not only do I understand this argument, I’ve made the argument before in terms of, ‘Hey, the SEC, they go through a different gauntlet than another conference.’
“But I also just don’t like starting the season knowing no matter how good or bad your teams are, you’re going to be grandfathered in. To me, there’s something wrong with that.”
Despite traditionally dominating college football, the SEC has fallen short in the past two seasons.
Michigan claimed the final championship in the four-team playoff, and Ohio State used the expanded format to win it all this year.
Finebaum, long associated with SEC coverage, now acknowledges a shift in power.
“It’s a new narrative,” Finebaum said. “And for somebody who talks 20 hours a week to SEC fans, it’s on their minds. I’m sitting there, and I’ve got a million people watching, and I’m the, quote, unquote, voice of the SEC.”
With the Big Ten winning back-to-back titles, the pressure is on for the SEC to reclaim its dominance in 2025.
But with the 12-team format locked in, the debate over whether the playoff is too big – or just right – will continue.
Of course, there have been talks of expanding the field even further to 14-teams. CFP executive director Rich Clark confirmed that possibility is still on the table.
“The commissioners will look at is 14 a better number (starting in 2026) after they see results of this playoff. How can we make it better? 14 (teams) is one of the options, staying at 12 is one of the options,” Clark said in December.
We are getting closer to the SEC and Big Ten having “automatic bids” into the CFP … Are you in favor of that?
As for the size of the field – do you think 12-teams is the right number? Or should they expand to 14?
Realistically, we know the one thing they won’t do is downsize … But should they???
