The College Football Playoff is on the verge of a major overhaul, with a 24-team bracket expected to take over in 2027 if final approval comes through.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel and Heather Dinich reported Thursday that the expansion is nearing a deal, one that would double the current 12-team field and push more postseason action onto campuses. The move would also change the rhythm of college football’s finish, giving more teams a path into the bracket while likely doing away with conference championship games.
Under the proposed setup, the playoff would include the four Power Four conference champions, the highest-ranked Group of Six team and 19 at-large selections. The top eight teams would get first-round byes and then host their first game in the second round.
Seeds nine through 16 would host opening-round games against seeds 17 through 24. The first two rounds would be played on campus, while the New Year’s Six bowls would still handle the quarterfinals and semifinals.
That structure creates a different kind of season-long chase. Teams would not just be fighting to get in; they would be chasing home-field advantage and, for the best of the bunch, a bye. The reward for finishing higher in the rankings would matter in a much bigger way.
Not everyone is sold on the idea. The expansion has already drawn criticism from people who believe the 12-team field is enough and that stretching it further would water down the regular season. The concern, from that angle, is simple: a bigger bracket gives the sport’s heavyweights more room to absorb a loss and still stay alive.
Even so, the expanded format would open the door for more teams to rebound from an early stumble and stay in the race deeper into the year. More fan bases would have a reason to stay locked in through November, and the playoff picture would carry more weight across more Saturdays.
For Utah, BYU and the Big 12 as a whole, the proposal would widen the road to the postseason. A team would no longer need to win its conference to keep championship hopes alive, and a tough road loss or crowded finish near the top of the standings would be less likely to end the dream. The Big 12 could realistically put several teams in the field, and conference games would matter not just for standings but for playoff placement, home games and byes.
Utah and BYU could even end up in the same playoff season, with their annual meeting helping shape where each lands in the bracket. For both fan bases, the tantalizing possibility is obvious: playoff football at Rice-Eccles Stadium or LaVell Edwards Stadium.
Utah State and the rebuilt Pac-12 would have a route as well through the guaranteed berth for the highest-ranked Group of Six team. But the proposal would still leave only one automatic spot for that group, and an expanded field would not promise a fixed number of bids for the Big 12 or Pac-12. Those teams would still have to compete with programs from every other league for the same at-large spots.
The change would also put conference championship games in jeopardy, with the expectation that they disappear entirely. That would shift more importance onto standings and tiebreakers when leagues sort out their champions.
Bowls beyond the New Year’s Six could feel the squeeze, too. As more attention and more postseason inventory moves into the playoff, some of the sport’s other bowls may have to find new life as season-opening events, staged at neutral sites with sponsors and non-conference matchups.
The expanded bracket would also demand more from rosters. Teams without a bye would need five postseason wins to win the title, turning the path to the championship into a 17-game grind after a standard 12-game regular season.
The playoff remains at 12 teams for 2026. If the expansion is approved, 2027 would bring a much wider field and a very different postseason landscape.
In Other News...
BYU Is Asking Bear Bachmeier To Do Too Much Right Now
LJ Martins injury has changed the shape of BYUs offense in a hurry, and it has left Bear Bachmeier carrying far more than a normal quarterback workload. With Martin expected to miss four to six weeks, the Cougars have leaned harder on Bachmeier as both a passer and runner, and that was clear in the 24-10 win over Iowa State, when he produced the bulk of the offense and helped steady the game from start to finish.
Bear Bachmeier has already shown he can keep BYU moving when the load falls on his shoulders, but the question now is whether that formula can hold up for long. Relying so heavily on one player is always a dangerous way to live, and the concern gets sharper with Notre Dame looming, because the Cougars may need more than a single high-level quarterback effort to keep the offense functioning at the same level. [Read more 🡒]
Baylor Heads Into Rivalry Week With One Big QB Question
Week 6 in the Big 12 delivered another reminder of how quickly the quarterback conversation can change, with Bear Bachmeier putting together a strong outing for BYU and Noah Fifita throwing for 300 yards in Arizonas latest game. The leagues most important position has been driving the story every week, and the latest review of individual performances only sharpens the focus as the conference heads into another slate packed with ranked matchups and quarterback duels.
For BYU, Bachmeiers performance keeps the Cougars in the mix when the leagues best passers are being stacked up heading into Week 7. The updated ranking of the top eight Big 12 quarterbacks reflects recent form more than preseason expectations, and with several marquee games on deck, every throw now carries a little more weight as the race for position in the conference race tightens. [Read more 🡒]
BYU Finally Gets The Notre Dame Showdown Provo Waited Years For
BYU finally gets the Notre Dame showdown it has been waiting years to stage in Provo, with the Fighting Irish set to visit LaVell Edwards Stadium for the first time since 2004. It is the kind of matchup that has long carried extra weight for the Cougars, not just because Notre Dame remains one of the sports biggest brands, but because the two programs have spent years trying to get a game on the calendar that actually stuck.
Scheduling friction has been part of the backdrop all along, from Notre Dame previously backing out of a planned trip to Provo to the schools working through a neutral-site meeting in Las Vegas in 2022. Recently, Notre Dame reached out about a two-game series, a move tied in part to the Irish needing a game that could help strengthen their playoff resume after USC backed out of their rivalry, giving BYU another high-profile opening in a series that has not always been easy to pin down. [Read more 🡒]