By Chris Marler
The transfer portal has been chaotic and monopolized most of the college football content over the last week.
Don’t let 19 to 25 year olds becoming multimillionaires as mercenary student-athletes distract you from the other news though. The College Football Playoff is potentially expanding again.
On Sunday, ESPN’s Heather Dinich dropped this nugget on social media.
“The Big Ten is willing to consider a 16-team CFP field in 2026 if the SEC will commit to a 24-team field two or three years later, multiple sources told ESPN. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has no interest in committing to that right now, sources said. And if Sankey and Big Ten commish Tony Petitti can’t reach a compromise by Jan. 23 the field will remain at 12.”
Via @CFBHeather
Possibly More expansion coming to CFP pic.twitter.com/2YTVgWwfUT
— Chris Marler (@Vern_Funquist) January 12, 2026
Remember like two years ago when we had four teams, and for some reason we jumped to 12. It’s only been two years since the 12 team playoff began, and it’s not like we’ve really nailed down how to do that correctly. Sure, let’s definitely go to 16 teams, but only if it means we can do 24 teams two years later.
That’s right! If you thought watching James Madison and Tulane getting boat raced by Power 4 programs the week before Christmas wasn’t fun this year then wait until we fix it – by moving it to a week before in December. That should work right? If you thought putting in one three loss team in the CFP field like Alabama was dumb this year, just wait. Next year we might get three or four!
College football once had the best regular season in sports. Any week could eliminate a top contender
Last year, Ohio St lost to a 6-5 archrival and won a title
Now, Miami lost to 8-4 Louisville & 8-4 SMU and gets to play for a title in its own stadium
I hope not, but I am…
— Graham Coffey (@GrahamCoffeyDC) January 9, 2026
First off, that might be the worst negotiation offer I’ve ever heard. Secondly, just go to 24 now if you’re going to do it in two to three years anyway. Lastly, what are we even doing anymore?
The entire sport has slowly become that U2 album we all woke up with on our phones and ipods back in the day. Change that no one asked for or wanted inked into the skin of the sport like a tattoo a 21 year old gets on Spring Break and immediately regrets. Now, it’s just there forever.
I am once again begging for any of the adults in charge to just do the one thing all of us have asked over the last five years or so – care about the sport. For some reason that seems to be an impossible task. Of course money is the driving factor and number one priority. Caring about the long term ramifications to the sport itself should probably be second on that list.
Here’s another idea. It’s actually a plea if we are being honest. How about instead of taking the same route as the national debt and my waist line since I moved to Louisiana, we try to actually decrease where we are currently at? At the very least maybe we try to figure out how to function at the current number we are at without egregiously allowing it to increase because two conferences of the ten total that represent the sport are busy having a cold war of selfish idiocy for fun and money.
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