College Football Playoff Committee recently announced that expanding to a 24-team playoff is all but inevitable. As is typical of any college football announcement since the turn of the decade, fans had a field day on X, Instagram and TikTok expressing their thoughts on the decision.
While I believe this expansion would be bad for the sport as it will make what is means to make the playoffs significantly downplayed, I believe in not rejecting an idea without offering an alternative. So, here we go, how can I, a random student journalist, save college football.
Go back to the four-team playoff. Except for one crucial change…
Instead of being part of the bowl games as it was last time, we had a four-team playoff; the playoffs would begin after the bowl games. This would accomplish two things: make the regular season feel like life or death again and make bowl games matter again. If the 12 teams awarded New Year’s Six bowl games were all fighting for playoff spots, every one of those games would be must-watch television.
Teams such as 2017 UCF, 2021 Cincinnati and 2023 Florida State are all remembered for some of the most controversial playoff inclusion or exclusion decisions during the four-team era.
The reality was that there was no way to know for certain which teams were the best four, given their vastly different schedules and quality of wins. Their bowl games provided an opportunity to determine which teams were contenders and which were pretenders. When UCF beat Auburn in the Peach Bowl or Tulane beat USC in the Cotton Bowl, those victories showed that the teams had not simply coasted through easy conferences but had built programs worthy of the committee’s attention. Conversely, watching Florida State lose by 60 points in the 2023 Orange Bowl could be seen as validating its exclusion from the playoff.
If the 2026 season had ended after Week 7, the New Year’s bowl matchups under a BCS-style model would have been Ohio State vs. Utah, Georgia vs. Notre Dame, Miami vs. BYU, Texas Tech vs. Alabama and Ole Miss vs. Indiana.
Every one of those games would be compelling, with each team fighting to earn a spot in the playoffs. Imagine Ole Miss taking down the reigning national champion or BYU narrowly beating Miami, only for the two teams to meet again for a national championship.
While no system will ever be perfect, this model would give teams another opportunity to prove themselves against top competition. It would also give the selection committee more evidence to consider, reducing complaints about automatic bids, Group of Six representation, and SEC bias.
Sports Editor
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