As a reminder, there is no offseason when it comes to college football news, and that’s the case now more than ever. Case in point: the Big Ten is having its spring meetings this week in southern California, and there’s plenty to talk about.
One of those things is the future of the College Football Playoff. If you are a college football fan, you know the CFP started as a four-team field in 2014, then expanded to 12 teams for the 2024 season (ahem, Ohio State won both of those first iterations). As with anything that has the potential for more inclusive — and more importantly — more money, there is now a push to expand further. Some prefer a few teams, while others want to double the field.
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That’s the company line all the Big Ten coaches are saying in unisom coming out of the meetings, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel. From Rutgers to Ohio State, all eighteen teams are supporting a 24-team playoff, something Big Ten commissioner Tony Pettiti has been lobbying for.
The Big Ten invited prominent media members to be a part of the meeting this year, something that seems to be designed to get some messaging out, especially with the SEC beating its own drum on a smaller, 16-team model. However, after winning three straight playoffs, the conference would seem to have a bigger voice now more than ever.
And the Big Ten isn’t missing its chance to get the message out, ahead of the SEC meetings that are set to take place after Memorial Day. All, thanks in large part to Washington head coach Jedd Fisch.
“I just felt like if messages were getting out of one part of the country and not the other part of the country, some of the things that we wanted to share that we really believe in was getting missed,” said Fisch.
Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck pointed to the full support of the League as a reason why others (ahem, the SEC), might listen. To date, the ACC and Big 12 have also been on board with.
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“It’s got tremendous steam and power behind it (the 24-team field),” Fleck said. “Especially from the 18 head coaches in the Big Ten. When you do a lot of things that everybody’s 18-for-18 for what we should do, I think it speaks volumes.”
It remains to be seen whether or not the big, bad, declawed SEC will get behind such a large field, but with zero SEC teams playing in a national championship game the last three years, now might be the time the conference relents.
There are clearly some things with the calendar that would have to be worked out. Right now, a 24-team field would make an already longer season much longer and perhaps stretch into February. The idea of conference championship games will also have to be revisited, and perhaps scrapped. Those games are pretty lucrative when it comes to gate revenue, so that would have to all be worked out. Long story short, the calendar would need to be condensed
“The season needs to be pushed up,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. “We need to finish the season much sooner. Let’s have this all done by the first week in January so we have a season that makes sense.” to make it all come together.
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One way or another, expansion and changes are coming to a College Football Playoff near you, and the Big Ten is trying to throw its weight around at a time when stepping on the scales looks like the conference is an 800-pound gorilla. It just might work.
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This article originally appeared on Buckeyes Wire: Big Ten coaches unanimous on 24-team playoff at spring meetings
