The College Football Playoffs (CFP) is one of the most anticipated sports events in the United States. While football fans may debate over whether professional or college football is better, both can agree that this tournament is one of the highlights of the sport. Many fans seem to believe the college football playoffs are too big and that it should shrink. This is partly due to the history of many blowouts in the first round of the playoffs, causing less enjoyable games and tarnishing the greatness of the CFP. However, there are also people that believe the playoffs should be expanded to include even more teams, such as the lower conference champions. Then there are the people that want to remove the lower conference champions entirely, and just have more of the big names from the larger conferences.
Many argue that the biggest flaw of the CFP is how there are so many blowouts in the first round. This phenomenon was seen in the tournament this season, when Tulane (11), the conference champions of the American conference, lost 10-41 against Ole Miss (6). In the 2024 season, Southern Methodist University (11) got blown out 10-38 by Penn State (6). These are both uncompetitive games that many watching the CFP just don’t enjoy. Many believe the CFP would be more entertaining without these games, and you can just cut out the bottom 2 seeds to avoid these blowouts.
The same argument, for the CFP shrinking, could also be made that because of the 12 team tournament, the regular season becomes devalued. This is why many fans want the CFP to have less than 12 spots. This would be because with fewer spots available, more teams would have to compete to punch their ticket into the playoffs. This would increase the intensity and pressure that football fans feast upon. With more teams in the tournament, more games will be played increasing the amount of injuries and fatigue that each team will face, potentially preventing teams from playing to the best of their ability.
A different proposal to solve this issue is rather than shrinking the CFP, instead remove the Group of 5 (G5) champion to be able to make the playoffs entirely. The G5 is determined between the conferences of American, Sun Belt, Mountain West, Mid-American and Conference USA. The winner is guaranteed an automatic spot in the CFP. This causes discontent because this team, even though a conference champion, tends to be weaker due to being in worse conferences. This is because many good players transfer to the big name colleges instead of staying in the G5 school they started in. The bigger conferences, like the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference), also get more funding. This ‘best of the bad’ team often ends up getting blown out in the first round of the CFP, like Tulane (11) this year.
Another G5 team that made the CFP this season, because G5 colleges aren’t limited to one spot, was James Madison University (JMU) (12). Although they scored 34 points against Oregon (5), they still lost 34-51 in an uncompetitive game. The biggest issue that fans have is that these uncompetitive teams like JMU and Tulane are causing what people would believe to be more entertaining and bigger programs to miss the playoffs. These big name teams include Notre Dame (11), 9th in the Associated Press (AP) college football 2025 rankings, Brigham Young University (BYU) (13), 12th in the AP rankings, and Texas (13), 14th in AP rankings.
A different view is that the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) should expand the CFP to fit more teams without removing others. This would allow for teams that just missed the playoffs, like Notre Dame, to make the tournament. This would not only provide more teams more action, but fewer teams would feel robbed of a playoff opportunity. More teams getting allowed into the CFP would mean more games, which could then lead to even more first round blowouts, thereby further increasing the problem.
There are a variety of views and opinions on how to make the CFP better which each have their pros and cons. However, I believe that the current system is the most balanced and will work the best. The 12 team system, with one spot for G5 guaranteed, gives just the right amount of action and inclusion to all teams. People will always be dissatisfied and desire something else even though that alternative will only make more people angry. It is better to stay with the current system that effectively compromises between the people calling for a CFP expansion and the people that want a shrinkage.
