The 24-team playoff idea is something Tennessee fans have every reason to hate

The Tennessee Vols in 2024 made their first-ever College Football Playoff after a strong 10–2 season. They finished 10–2 with a solid resume overall. Yes, there was a slip-up against Arkansas, but they also picked up big wins over Alabama and on the road against Oklahoma. It was a really strong year, and Tennessee earned its spot in the playoff. The 12-team format isn’t perfect, but it does a solid job of getting the best teams in the mix.

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Now the Big 12 and ACC are joining forces with the Big Ten to push for a 24-team playoff, but college football has already changed plenty as it is. Do we really need even more playoff games on top of everything else? It feels like it’s starting to go overboard. The SEC is already drawing a line in the sand and saying they want no part of it.

A 24-team CFP is a horrible idea

I absolutely hate that we’re back here again. In what world should a College Football Playoff have 24 teams? What made college football so great, or at least what it used to be, was that every regular-season game mattered. In the NFL, you can go 10–7 and still make a run at the Super Bowl. But in college football, going 11–1 could still be devastating depending on how the schedule breaks. That tension is what made the sport special. Expanding the playoff even further risks watering that down even more.

When Tennessee made the playoffs in 2024, they were a deserving team that had a really solid season. Last year’s team probably would have made an expanded playoff, but to be fair, they didn’t deserve to compete for a title after losing four regular-season games.

Now we’re heading toward a world where 8–4 teams that really don’t belong in a playoff could still get a shot at a national title. That feels absurd. In no universe should that be the case. Four teams honestly made sense, and even 12 feels like a stretch, but it still works. But 24 teams? That’s where it starts to feel like too much. At some point, the drive for money and TV deals is changing the sport people fell in love with way too much. College basketball has already moved March Madness to 76 teams, another big mistake. All of this greed is getting to be too much.

At least with the 12-team playoff, there’s still an opportunity to see teams miss out (looking at you, Vanderbilt). But now it feels like everyone will get a spot as long as you schedule three non-conference cupcakes and win five conference games.

Notre Dame, the Big Ten, and everyone else hopping on board with this should feel ashamed, because deep down they know it's just to make a couple of extra dollars. They don't care about crowning a champion; they care about having more blowout football games so they can get a bunch of money from ESPN to air them.

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