05/13/26 11:43:00
Printable Page
05/13 11:41 CDT ACC formally backs Big Ten's push for the College Football
Playoff to expand to 24 teams
ACC formally backs Big Ten's push for the College Football Playoff to expand to
24 teams
By MARK LONG
AP Sports Writer
AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. (AP) --- The Atlantic Coast Conference is backing the Big
Ten's push for a 24-team playoff, commissioner Jim Phillips said Wednesday.
Speaking at the end of three days of spring meetings in a posh resort in
northeast Florida, Phillips said ACC coaches and athletic directors reached
consensus on wanting to double the current College Football Playoff model.
"When you're leaving national championship-contending teams and schools out of
the playoff, you don't have the right number," Phillips said. "We lived through
it."
Phillips pointed to unbeaten Florida State getting snubbed from a four-team CFP
field in 2023 and Notre Dame getting left out of last year's 12-team model.
"Notre Dame was a CFP-worthy team this year; they just were," he said. "The
other rationale is there is so much investment going on in the sport of
football and in college athletics. ... If you're going to ask presidents and
chancellors and boards to continue to invest in their football programs, it's
really important that they have hope, that they have an opportunity at the
beginning of the season to get into the playoff."
Coaches and administrators have clamored for more access to the lucrative and
potentially job-saving playoff. They point to having just 12 playoff spots for
138 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision, a miniscule percentage compared to
many other collegiate sports or major professional leagues.
"The more the merrier," Florida State athletic director Michael Alford said.
"The more opportunities to get teams in and give student-athletes
opportunities."
Phillips also said television partner ESPN "has been pretty clear with all of
us that they'd like it to stay at 12, maybe 14, but no higher than 16."
No matter how much the ACC and other leagues support a 24-team playoff, the Big
Ten and the Southeastern Conference have exclusive power to determine the CFP's
future. Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti and the SEC's Greg Sankey have the
ultimate say on any expansion.
The SEC is pushing to expand to 16 teams, with an emphasis on at-large bids.
The Big Ten supports 24 teams and initially wanted multiple automatic
qualifiers from each conference.
The playoff expanded from four to 12 teams in 2024, and after decision-makers
failed to reach an expansion agreement, the CFP will use the same model for the
2026-27 season. The discussion carries major implications for the college
football calendar, including the start and end of the season and the role of
money-making conference championship games.
An NCAA committee last month recommended that FBS teams play a 12-game schedule
over 14 weeks beginning in 2027 with the season starting on the Thursday of
what is now designated Week Zero and ending the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
Last week, the American Football Coaches Association proposed changes to the
schedule that included eliminating conference championship games, reducing
scheduled bye weeks from two to one and reducing the minimum number of days
between games to no fewer than six.
Sankey stood firm earlier this week on expanding to a 16-team CFP.
Sankey said all changes in college athletics must come with appropriate
research --- something he believes the SEC has provided in support of a
four-team expansion to 16. To Sankey, moving to 16 teams is an unknown, with
one big question being whether an expanded playoff would make up for an SEC
title game that generates more than $80 million a year for the powerhouse
conference.
The current CFP contract includes a deadline of Dec. 1, 2026, to make any
changes for the following season.
___
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up
here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college football:
https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and
https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
|
