Greg McElroy pitches plan to improve College Football Playoff
By David Wasson
Published:
The 2025-26 College Football Playoff has already experienced an interesting mix of upsets and blowouts through the first round, and the dichotomy of games has generated plenty of opinion of how to improve the CFP process into the future.
ESPN analyst and former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy chimed in with his opinion Tuesday, suggesting an expansion to 16 teams with no first-round byes for any team. McElroy’s proposal also calls for the Group-of 5-representative automatically hitting the road to play in the first round against the No. 1 overall seed.
“There is a way to make G-5 inclusion acceptable, and to make conference championships matter again,” McElroy said. “Expand the field and get rid of the byes. Then, the G-5 team has to go on the road and play against the No. 1-ranked team in the country in the first round. The No. 1-ranked team is going to be, in all likelihood, the conference champion of the SEC or the Big Ten.
“So now, not only is the G-5 in the field, their path is even more challenging than it was this past weekend … Now you are putting a premium on conference championship games. They matter again. Because you get the No. 1 seed, you get a massive reward for being the No. 1 team.”
The 2025-26 College Football Playoff will continue on New Year’s Eve.
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. He also hosts Gulfshore Sports with David Wasson, weekdays from 3-5 pm across Southwest Florida and on FoxSportsFM.com. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
