The College Football Playoff is headed to 24 teams in 2027, and Miami coach Mario Cristobal isn’t hiding where he stands on the change.
The CFP announced Monday that the expanded format will run through the 2031-32 season. Rich Clark, the playoff’s executive director, said in a release that the new setup will be built to deliver a bigger stage for everyone involved.
“We will make the 24-team Playoff spectacular for the fans, student-athletes, their institutions and all our stakeholders,” Clark said. “That is our commitment. Our organization delivers a world-class championship experience at our games and our events, and this promise will continue under the new format. 23 games of Playoff football, featuring 24 ranked teams going head-to-head for the right to be crowned the true national champion.”
The new bracket will feature the Power 4 champions - ACC, Big 10, Big 12 and SEC - along with the top-ranked team from the Group of 6 and the next 19 teams in the committee rankings. ESPN will carry the playoff.
The format also appears set to push conference championship games out of the picture. The ACC said Monday that this season’s title game will be its last.
Under the new model, the playoffs would start two weeks after the regular season ends, giving every qualifier a bye week before the postseason begins. The top eight teams would receive first-round byes, while the first and second rounds would be played at the higher seeds’ home stadiums.
The quarterfinals and semifinals would keep rotating among the Cotton Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl, Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl.
Cristobal, though, has made clear he is not sold on the idea. Miami would have been in the 24-team field in both 2024 and 2025, but that hasn’t changed his view.
On WQAM’s “The Joe Rose Show” on Oct. 19, Cristobal said the bigger field could chip away at what makes the regular season matter.
“I would say that I love the value of the regular season. I do,” Cristobal said.
“And I don’t want to increase the number of narratives that continue to show up when things don’t go a certain team’s way or certain conferences’ way. I want to eliminate the beauty pageant part of it.
I want to make it more about competing, getting it done on the field and determining it there.”
ACC commissioner Jim Phillips backed the expansion Monday, saying it gives more teams a path to the title and still keeps the regular season meaningful through seeding, byes and home-field position.
Cristobal later framed his stance as one of conference loyalty.
“At the end of the day, I am for whatever helps our conference because you have to be a team player,” Cristobal said on Oct. 19.
“Me, personally, not a fan. But again, back to the team-player thing.
If it’s what’s best for the conference, then all things are being looked at and whatever is best for the team, we do.”
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