The college football world collectively freaked out last week over the possibility of a 24-team College Football Playoff.

The American Football Coaches Association’s endorsement of a 24-team playoff sparked the debate, and that should not come as much of a surprise. Coaches see more playoff spots as job security.

I completely understand why there is so much pushback. We’ve already significantly devalued college football’s regular season with a 12-team playoff. In just over a decade, the focus of the sport has shifted from regional rivalries and winning your conference to playoff or bust. Moving to 24 teams would push that even further.

Josh Pate astutely pointed out last week that a 24-team playoff would make 10-1 Ohio State vs. 10-1 Michigan in late November feel almost meaningless. It might actually be prudent for the Buckeyes or Wolverines to rest hobbled players who would otherwise tough it out if more were on the line than playoff seeding.

Would 8-3 Nebraska vs. 8-3 Iowa suddenly have playoff implications? Sure. But that is not a worthy tradeoff.

Alas, the Playoff Industrial Complex is here, spearheaded by Big Ten commissioner Tony Petiti, who is hellbent on making college football a mini-NFL. 

Whether we like it or not, Petitti and the TV suits are steadily stripping away everything that made college football unique.

If you can’t tell, I’m not a fan of what the playoff has done to college football. But I do have to admit something: a 24-team playoff would be objectively better for the Big 12 than a 12-team playoff. With one very important catch.

On3’s Andy Staples charted what a 24-team playoff would have looked like in 2024 and 2025, and no conference benefited more than the Big 12. Using the College Football Playoff rankings, eight additional Big 12 teams would have made the field over those two seasons.

The biggest problem the Big 12 has right now is playoff access. It is extremely difficult for the league to get games against the biggest brands on the biggest stage. A 24-team playoff would create a ton of new opportunities.

That is especially enticing after Alabama canceled its home-and-home series with Oklahoma State last week. Opportunities to play the SEC and Big Ten are already few and far between for the Big 12.

So, what’s the catch? 

Well, more opportunities to beat the SEC and Big Ten also means more opportunities to lose to the SEC and Big Ten.

Would the perception of the Big 12 be better right now if those eight additional playoff teams had gone 1-7 over the last two seasons?

And yes, if you’re screaming at me that nobody thought Arizona State had any chance to beat Texas as a 13.5-point underdog in the playoff two seasons ago, you make an excellent point. In 2022, Michigan was a 7.5-point favorite over TCU before the Horned Frogs flipped the script on the Wolverines.

That’s exactly why more access is ultimately better for the Big 12. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.

But the league would need to come through. If it doesn’t, the ridicule might be even worse than it is now.

Nothing is official yet, and the SEC certainly isn’t going down without a fight. But it sure seems like the tide is turning toward 24 teams sooner rather than later.

Let’s hope the Big 12 is ready.

What You Need to Know

• Which school generated the most revenue in the Big 12 last year? Here’s the full list. 

• Texas Tech landed another huge in-state high school football commitment and now has 6 of the top 20 prospects in the state.

• Matt Campbell told ESPN that he agreed to leave Iowa State for a different job in 2021 before changing his mind. 

• Ready for a nostalgia hit? This might be the most jaw-dropping play from a Big 12 football game that I can remember. 

• Want to dig deeper into what a 24-team playoff means for the Big 12? Check out my latest YouTube clip.

• Want your Big 12 news and analysis in podcast form? Listen to Open For Business at the gym, in your car, or first thing in the morning on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube.

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