College football coaches hard-launch their soft era, favoring 24-team CFP

Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza (15) embraces his family on the field Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, after defeating the Miami (FL) Hurricanes in the College Football Playoff National Championship college football game at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.

Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza (15) reacts after the College Football Playoff National Championship game against the Miami Hurricanes at Hard Rock Stadium.

Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza (15) lifts the trophy after the College Football Playoff National Championship game against the Miami Hurricanes at Hard Rock Stadium.

Indiana Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti holds up the trophy as the team celebrates winning the College Football Playoff National Championship game at Hard Rock Stadium.

Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza (15) is interviewed by ESPN personality Rece Davis after winning the College Football Playoff National Championship game at Hard Rock Stadium.

Indiana Hoosiers defensive back Lincoln Murff (45) celebrates on the field Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, after defeating the Miami Hurricanes in the College Football Playoff National Championship college football game at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.

Indiana Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti reacts after the College Football Playoff National Championship game at Hard Rock Stadium.

Indiana Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti celebrates on the field Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, after defeating the Miami Hurricanes in the College Football Playoff National Championship college football game at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.

A national champions flag is is seen after the College Football Playoff National Championship game between the Indiana Hoosiers and the Miami Hurricanes at Hard Rock Stadium.

Indiana Hoosiers defensive back Devan Boykin (12), wide receiver Elijah Sarratt (13) and linebacker PJ Nelson (30) celebrate after the College Football Playoff National Championship game against the Miami Hurricanes at Hard Rock Stadium.

The Indiana Hoosiers celebrates after the College Football Playoff National Championship game against the Miami Hurricanes at Hard Rock Stadium.

The Indiana Hoosiers reacts against the Miami Hurricanes in the second half during the College Football Playoff National Championship game at Hard Rock Stadium.

Indiana Hoosiers defensive back Ryland Gandy (10) reacts after the College Football Playoff National Championship game at Hard Rock Stadium.

The Indiana Hoosiers celebrates after the College Football Playoff National Championship game against the Miami Hurricanes at Hard Rock Stadium.

Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza (15) celebrates with wide receiver Charlie Becker (80) after scoring a touchdown against the Miami Hurricanes during the second half of the CFP National Championship college football game at Hard Rock Stadium.

The Indiana Hoosiers celebrates after the College Football Playoff National Championship game against the Miami Hurricanes at Hard Rock Stadium.

Indiana Hoosiers defensive back Jamari Sharpe (22) celebrates with defensive back Louis Moore (7) after making an interception against the Miami Hurricanes during the first half of the College Football Playoff National Championship game at Hard Rock Stadium.

Indiana Hoosiers defensive back Jamari Sharpe (22) reacts after getting an interception against the Miami Hurricanes in the second half during the College Football Playoff National Championship game at Hard Rock Stadium.

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Indiana Hoosiers claim first national football title over Miami

Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza (15) embraces his family on the field Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, after defeating the Miami (FL) Hurricanes in the College Football Playoff National Championship college football game at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.

1 / 18

Indiana Hoosiers claim first national football title over Miami

Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza (15) embraces his family on the field Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, after defeating the Miami (FL) Hurricanes in the College Football Playoff National Championship college football game at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.

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Indiana Hoosiers claim first national football title over Miami

Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza (15) reacts after the College Football Playoff National Championship game against the Miami Hurricanes at Hard Rock Stadium.

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Indiana Hoosiers claim first national football title over Miami

Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza (15) lifts the trophy after the College Football Playoff National Championship game against the Miami Hurricanes at Hard Rock Stadium.

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Indiana Hoosiers claim first national football title over Miami

Indiana Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti holds up the trophy as the team celebrates winning the College Football Playoff National Championship game at Hard Rock Stadium.

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Indiana Hoosiers claim first national football title over Miami

Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza (15) is interviewed by ESPN personality Rece Davis after winning the College Football Playoff National Championship game at Hard Rock Stadium.

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Indiana Hoosiers claim first national football title over Miami

Indiana Hoosiers defensive back Lincoln Murff (45) celebrates on the field Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, after defeating the Miami Hurricanes in the College Football Playoff National Championship college football game at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.

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Indiana Hoosiers claim first national football title over Miami

Indiana Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti reacts after the College Football Playoff National Championship game at Hard Rock Stadium.

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Indiana Hoosiers claim first national football title over Miami

Indiana Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti celebrates on the field Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, after defeating the Miami Hurricanes in the College Football Playoff National Championship college football game at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.

9 / 18

Indiana Hoosiers claim first national football title over Miami

A national champions flag is is seen after the College Football Playoff National Championship game between the Indiana Hoosiers and the Miami Hurricanes at Hard Rock Stadium.

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Indiana Hoosiers claim first national football title over Miami

Indiana Hoosiers defensive back Devan Boykin (12), wide receiver Elijah Sarratt (13) and linebacker PJ Nelson (30) celebrate after the College Football Playoff National Championship game against the Miami Hurricanes at Hard Rock Stadium.

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Indiana Hoosiers claim first national football title over Miami

The Indiana Hoosiers celebrates after the College Football Playoff National Championship game against the Miami Hurricanes at Hard Rock Stadium.

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Indiana Hoosiers claim first national football title over Miami

The Indiana Hoosiers reacts against the Miami Hurricanes in the second half during the College Football Playoff National Championship game at Hard Rock Stadium.

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Indiana Hoosiers claim first national football title over Miami

Indiana Hoosiers defensive back Ryland Gandy (10) reacts after the College Football Playoff National Championship game at Hard Rock Stadium.

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Indiana Hoosiers claim first national football title over Miami

The Indiana Hoosiers celebrates after the College Football Playoff National Championship game against the Miami Hurricanes at Hard Rock Stadium.

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Indiana Hoosiers claim first national football title over Miami

Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza (15) celebrates with wide receiver Charlie Becker (80) after scoring a touchdown against the Miami Hurricanes during the second half of the CFP National Championship college football game at Hard Rock Stadium.

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Indiana Hoosiers claim first national football title over Miami

The Indiana Hoosiers celebrates after the College Football Playoff National Championship game against the Miami Hurricanes at Hard Rock Stadium.

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Indiana Hoosiers claim first national football title over Miami

Indiana Hoosiers defensive back Jamari Sharpe (22) celebrates with defensive back Louis Moore (7) after making an interception against the Miami Hurricanes during the first half of the College Football Playoff National Championship game at Hard Rock Stadium.

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Indiana Hoosiers claim first national football title over Miami

Indiana Hoosiers defensive back Jamari Sharpe (22) reacts after getting an interception against the Miami Hurricanes in the second half during the College Football Playoff National Championship game at Hard Rock Stadium.

College Football Coaches Inc. — OK, there’s no group actually called that — seems to want to grow the playoff to such a size that 8-4 teams that creep into the bottom tier of the Top 25 poll qualify for the bracket.

Place eighth in the SEC, collect your ribbon, and proceed to a first-round playoff loss.

Never mind that a 24-team playoff would devalue the regular season, which has always been the best part of college football.

A 24-team College Football Playoff would boost 8-4 teams

Lose to every ranked opponent on your schedule? That’d be no biggie in a 24-team playoff era. Just scarf down a few cupcake wins, add in some victories against a handful of mediocre Power conference teams, and it’s off to the playoff.

Apparently, it’s not enough that James Madison and Tulane and eventually Alabama and Oregon got walloped in College Football Playoff games. What this playoff’s really missing is four-loss Iowa!

Look, no offense to Iowa, but what’s wrong with Iowa finishing its season with a ReliaQuest Bowl victory on New Year’s Eve against Vanderbilt, a fellow also-ran?

Answer: Nothing’s wrong with that. Nothing’s been wrong with that for a century.

Before you say nobody cares about bowl games, I’d direct you to TV ratings that say, in fact, people do still watch bowl games. (The good bowl games, anyway.)

Some bowl games attracted a bigger TV audience last winter than certain playoff games.

Calling something a playoff game doesn’t ensure demand. I don’t need to see No. 23 Iowa lose to No. 10 Miami in the first round of a playoff consisting of five rounds and 24 teams.

College football fans don’t want this. This idea of a 24-team playoff originated from Big Ten HQ, but a recent polling of nearly 3,600 Big Ten fans by The Athletic showed only 9% of respondents favor a 24-team playoff.

A whopping 84% of respondents favored either a 12- or 16-team playoff.

But, hey, Coach knows best, right?

Finishing season sooner is worthy goal, but not like this

Fortunately, the AFCA has no authority over the CFP.

Anyway, give it a few weeks, and coaches might change their mind. Just last month, the NCAA's Football Oversight Committee, which includes some coaches, came out in favor of moving up the season’s start date to what’s now known as Week 0, while also enshrining two bye weeks per season.

Then, weeks later, the AFCA announced it prefers one bye week, not two.

Ask ’em again next week, and they’ll favor infinity bye weeks, before proceeding to a 128-team playoff.

What’s next, contract extensions and raises for coaches who lose a playoff game by 35 points? Oops, too late, that already happens.

One of the AFCA’s goals, it says, is to finish the season by the second Monday in January while also growing the playoff. To do that, the AFCA sketched out eliminating conference championship games and limiting the schedule to one bye week.

But there’s another way to speed up the season’s conclusion:

**Step 1:**Keep the playoff at 12 teams, or expand to 16 while eliminating playoff byes. Cap the playoff at four rounds.

**Step 2:**Eliminate conference championship games. Start the playoff the first weekend of December.

But no, the AFCA wants max participation.

A 24-team playoff could include more than one-third of the Power Four teams.

Why some coaches like idea of 24-team CFP

Why do coaches want a max-participation playoff? Don’t kid yourself into thinking they’ve got altruistic motives. This preference stems from a well-oiled place of self-interest.

Coaches want more playoff teams — maximum participation! — because in their mind, that’ll work to their benefit.

You can't fire me if I'm coaching in a playoff game!(We'll see about that.)

Texas A&M coach Mike Elko spelled this out beautifully when I sat down with him last month for an interview.

“The head coach who wants to keep his job, (he’ll say) the right size is 45 teams or however many we can possibly fit in it,” Elko told me, “because (making the playoff) is becoming such a marker for the premier programs, which is, either you’re in, or you’re out. And if you’re out, you failed.”

Elko, we should note, expressed hesitance toward doubling the size of the playoff, saying “you have to keep the regular season meaningful” and adding that “we cannot turn this into college basketball.”

Apparently, not everybody’s gone soft.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: When college football coaches go soft, a 24-team playoff gains steam