ACC fully behind expanding college football playoff to 24 teams
RALEIGH, NC - NOVEMBER 25: Jaylen Samuels #1 of the North Carolina State Wolfpack scores the game-clinching touchdown late in the fourth quarter of their game against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Carter Finley Stadium on November 25, 2017 in Raleigh, North Carolina. North Carolina State won 33-21. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) | Getty Images With the expansion of the NCAA basketball tournament just done, attention turns to college football, where postseason expansion has seemingly been an inevitability since the College Football Playoff enlarged to 12 teams.
It’ll be a 12-team field in 2026, but expansion is imminent—whether that’s to 16 teams or 24 teams is the only sticking point. The Big Ten is pushing a 24-team format, while the SEC is for now supporting a 16-team field . The ACC left no doubt where it stands on the matter during its spring meetings this week.
In a joint meeting today at ACC spring meetings, athletic directors and head football coaches discussed at length the future of the College Football Playoff, swinging support behind a 24-team field. “There is consensus,” said one. “The room isn’t split,” said another.
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) May 12, 2026 You’ll be hard pressed to find a coach in any sport who is against expanding the postseason, because an expanded postseason means job security. That aside, being in the playoffs and having the pretense of a chance of winning a championship, well, it beats the alternative. "Access for teams is a good thing.
We would have been in a 24-team playoff three times in my tenure, and so I would have liked to have been a pat of that," NC State coach Dave Doeren. Says he supports 24 with revisions to the calendar. https://t.