College football is about to be flipped upside down, as ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported on Thursday, with the sport nearing an agreement to expand the playoffs from 12 to 24 teams starting in the 2027-28 season.
The shift from 12 to 24 teams is significant, and former Alabama head coach Nick Saban isn’t a fan of the 24-team format, but he wouldn’t keep it at 12. He has another number in mind.
Saban appeared on the “Pat McAfee Show” on Friday and said he thinks the best playoff field is 16 teams.
“I would be for 16 – I think that would be a good compromise,” Saban said, via On3’s Nick Schultz. “I would be for keeping conference championship games as maybe a play-in for the 16? Which, now, you have 20 teams that have hope. But I don’t think there’s much support for that. I don’t think anybody really likes that.”
If the 24-team playoff happens, it would eliminate conference championship games, and the SEC is one of the best in college football, so that would be a real loss.
24-Team Playoff Would Get More Fans From Other Schools in the Mix
A 24-team playoff could include more teams and make the regular season more meaningful for a handful of teams. However, it may take away some of the big games fans are used to watching.
Significant matchups will still happen in college football, like the Alabama vs. Georgia game we saw this past weekend. But in a 24-team playoff format, the Crimson Tide would still have a strong chance to make the playoffs, even after losing to the Bulldogs.
The 24-team playoff system benefits schools that typically lose three to four games each season and often finish ranked 15-20. With this new format, those schools’ fans will be more interested because their teams will have a real chance at making the playoffs.
Alabama Would Have Made Every 24 Team Playoff if It Started in 2014
The College Football Playoffs began in 2014 with four teams and expanded to 12 in 2024. If the playoffs had started with 24 teams in 2014, only two schools would have qualified for every single playoff: Alabama and Ohio State. The Crimson Tide and Buckeyes are the only two teams to be ranked in the top 24 of every final playoff poll since the 2014 season.
Alabama has a strong chance of making the playoffs every season. If head coach Kalen DeBoer keeps the Crimson Tide program on the right track, Alabama could be one of the teams to beat in the coming years, as it was under Coach Saban.
Former Alabama HC Nick Saban Fires Back at 24-Team CFP Plan With Own Creative Alternative