The 24-team playoff trap: Chasing dollars while risking the soul of college football

The College Football Playoff has barely outgrown its training pants — two whole seasons in the 12-team world — and already the wise men of the game are itching to blow it up to 24 teams. As usual, the SEC is playing deity again, perched up there on its throne of tradition and talent, looking down its nose at the rabble. Greg Sankey and his crew are warning that more is less, that bigger brackets might just dilute the November drama.

But let’s be honest, in this NIL and transfer portal circus, access isn’t just nice — it’s necessary. The BYU Cougars have been knocking on the door like encyclopedia salesmen. They’ve gone 12-2 and 11-1 the past two seasons, piling up a 23-3 record, ranked inside the top 10, yet left watching the playoff party through the window.

Notre Dame’s been in similar straits, metrics be darned. Some sleuths at Nextroundlive ran the numbers and figured if this 24-team shindig had been around since 2014, BYU would’ve crashed the gate four times instead of zero. Utah might’ve made eight appearances, Houston and Arizona three each, TCU four instead of their lonely one.

Heck, they’d have rolled out 80 different teams over a dozen years. Sounds less like an exclusive country club and more like actual football. The Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC are all aboard this expansion train.