Missouri may be sitting at No. 18 in the first College Football Playoff poll of the 2026 season, but the bigger conversation around Columbia this week wasn’t about the current 12-team race. It was about where the sport is headed next.
A 24-team playoff has been the buzz around college football for weeks, and Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz made it clear earlier this week that he’s all in on the idea. In an interview on the Brandon Walker College Football Show, Drinkwitz said the sport needs a bigger field - and more access.
"I am a 24-team playoff guy," Drinkwitz said. "I think you had to do that just to save all these colleges and universities money from firing coaches.
It was going to get way too expensive. You have to provide more access for fanbases."
Drinkwitz has been pushing for playoff expansion for a while. He previously backed a 16-team format with automatic bids tied to conference championship weekend, a stance that lined up more closely with Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti than with the SEC’s Greg Sankey.
The reported 24-team model would hand automatic bids to the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC, and the highest-ranked Group of Six champion, according to Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger. The remaining 19 spots would come from the CFP Selection Committee.
That part doesn’t sit especially well with Drinkwitz. He’s made no secret of his skepticism toward the committee process, and he’d rather see conferences control more of their own paths into the bracket.
"I actually prefer where each conference have play-in games on Championship Saturday, where eight teams played and the top four in each conference got into the playoff," Drinkwitz told Walker earlier this week. "I thought that was a great idea."
He’s floated a similar framework before. Under the version he discussed last year, the SEC and Big Ten would each receive four bids in a 16-team playoff. Instead of a traditional conference title game, the league would stage play-in matchups among the top eight teams - 1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6, and 4 vs. 5 - to determine who gets the four playoff spots.
"Now you have an opportunity to earn it," Drinkwitz said last year.
That concept may not be the one that lands, but the broader push toward expansion appears to be moving forward. ESPN reported that ESPN and the CFP have reached a " handshake deal" to expand, though a formal agreement still needs to be signed. Dellenger also reported that the playoff cannot grow beyond 24 teams until after 2032.
For Missouri, the immediate focus is still on the field. The Tigers have a big one Saturday against No.
7 Texas at Faurot Field in Columbia, with kickoff set for 11 a.m. CT on ESPN.
If a 24-team playoff were in place right now, Missouri would be in the field - and using Tuesday night’s rankings, the Tigers would open at Texas Tech before a potential Round-of-16 trip to No. 2 Georgia in Athens.
Drinkwitz, at least, likes where the sport is trending.
"However you get there, you get there," he said. "It’ll be exciting."
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For Missouri, the projection is another reminder that the Tigers postseason destination is beginning to take shape even as the bigger questions around the league remain unsettled. Arkansas and Vanderbilt were left out of the analysts bowl projections entirely, underscoring how much can still change in the SEC race, and how quickly one result can alter the path from here. [Read more 🡒]
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For a program trying to turn a fresh mix of talent into something more than a collection of names, the opener was a promising start. Missouri looked deep, active and far ahead of the usual early-season learning curve, which is exactly the kind of first step fans wanted to see. The bigger question now is how that early chemistry holds up once the schedule tightens and the competition gets more demanding. [Read more 🡒]
Mizzou Just Got A CFP Reality Check With Everything Still Ahead
Missouris first College Football Playoff ranking of the 2026 season offered both validation and a reminder of how much work still sits ahead. The Tigers came in at No. 18 with four games left on the schedule, and the committees opening list made clear that there is still plenty of movement to come in a crowded race.
What makes the number interesting is the path still in front of Missouri, with three of those final four games coming against Top 10 opponents. Early rankings are never the final word, and the Tigers postseason case will rise or fall on what they do in those marquee matchups. The betting market still sees Missouri as a team with a shot at the national title, but the real answer will have to come on the field. [Read more 🡒]