Bob Stoops explains why he’s coming around to the idea of a 24-team Playoff
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Bob Stoops has traditionally sought fewer College Football Playoff games. With the possibility of the field doubling from 12 to 24, though, he’s starting to take a more positive outlook toward the idea.
The reason, Stoops noted during a live broadcast of “The Joel Klatt Show” from Ann Arbor, is the potential of higher-stakes non-conference games. One of those games, for example, takes place at Michigan Stadium on Saturday when Michigan hosts Oklahoma.
With more attractive games on the non-conference slate, teams have a chance to stay in the Playoff hunt, even if they lose. As such, the SEC mandated, with its switch to a nine-game conference schedule, that teams play at least one Power 4 team a year. The Big Ten doesn’t currently have that requirement, but could if the Playoff expands.
“One of the things that (the 24-team) model affords is the conferences and the television networks, to be honest, getting to an agreement where these games would be scheduled for scheduled for teams, and we would see a lot more of (this) style of games in non-conference play than what we have now,” Klatt said.
Stoops concurred.
“I’ve been a proponent of less playoff games, but then these games are gonna go away,” Stoops said. “So then that would be the reason to have 24 teams in the Playoff, because now you can come up to Michigan, things don’t go the right way, you could still recover from it.”
For context, Michigan will travel to Texas in 2027 before a home-and-home with Notre Dame in 2033 and 2034. Oklahoma will face SMU at AT&T Stadium in 2027, visit Houston in 2028, and play a home-and-home against Nebraska in 2029 and 2030. A two-game series against Clemson is slated for 2035 and 2026.
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
