The expanded format of the College Football Playoff came into effect in the 2024 season, with eight more teams getting an opportunity to contend for the national championship. It also opened gateways for teams from Group of Five and other conferences to get a fair shot against Power Four programs.
However, this format sparked several controversies about its feasibility in the long run since no SEC team managed to go past the semifinals and punch a championship game ticket. Analyst Greg McElroy recently shared a unique proposal on his podcast last week, which he believes was a fair ask.
Greg McElroy Demands College Football Playoff Expansion to 16 Teams
In 2024, the College Football Playoff selection committee was asked to pick eight more programs than the usual four to compete in the postseason. Many eyebrows were raised after top teams like Ole Miss and Alabama failed to make the 12-team field.
Then, there was a debate about the disparity in schedule strength among SEC teams and other leagues since Alabama and Ole Miss had comparatively stronger opponents than half of the teams that made the playoff bracket.
After the season, McElroy, who shared his thoughts via ESPN, proposed the idea of conference championships becoming part of the playoffs. The top four teams in the SEC and Big Ten each secured automatic berths. They compete against each other in the same conference, and a champion comes out of each conference.
“If we want to use automatic qualifiers, there is a way to make it work,” McElroy said. “Our current conference championship game format needs to go away if we utilize automatic qualifiers, but we can have conference championships built into the playoff.
“So here’s my proposal. Hear me out. What if we have four teams from the SEC, right? All four of them get guaranteed a spot in the college football playoff by finishing in the top four of the regular season in the Southeastern Conference.
“And what if No. 1 from the SEC plays number four from the SEC in the first round of the playoff, and No. 2 plays No. 3 in the first round of the playoff. So, the winner of one or four plays a winner of two or three in the bracket, meaning that the winners of the SEC would be the conference champion, and it would all be built into the playoff.”
McElroy continued, “Same for the Big Ten. The first round of the playoff. They have two matchups in the Big Ten. Second round of Big Ten championship, boom, automatic spot in the semifinals. So you already have the SEC and the Big Ten with their four automatic bids, both guaranteed a spot in the semifinals, whether they’re against each other or not against each other.
“Then you take the Big 12 top two because they’re guaranteed two spots, right? And they play for one of the spots in the second round. You take the ACC top two, boom. They’re playing for first spot in the second round. Then you take the at-large bracket, which includes Notre Dame and which includes the G5 champ. So you take those plays out.
“The winner of that bracket advances to the semifinal as well. So basically, what you have is brackets, kind of all over the place. You have the large bracket; you have the Big 12 and the ACC bracket. You have the SEC bracket, the Big Ten bracket….what you’re doing by doing this format is you’re actually condensing the playoff.
“You are guaranteeing the Big Ten and the SEC a spot, but you’re basically turning a 16-team format into a four-team playoff because of the automatic qualifiers; you’re kind of flushing things out as you go along.”
KEEP READING: Way-Too-Early 2025-2026 College Football Playoff Prediction
Multiple proposals of similar type have been made, with experts and veterans wanting to expand the College Football Playoff field to more than 12 and use a less biased and schedule-friendly method.
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