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Matt Rhule voices support for CFP expansion: ‘The more spots, the better. Make that thing 40 and let’s go’
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Matt Rhule is strongly in favor of an expanded College Football Playoff.
The 2024 college football season marked the first year of the 12-team Playoff. Before the first game of the 12-team era, there was already talk of expanding the CFP. All signs point to the Playoff expanding to 14 or 16 teams before the 2026 season.
Playoff expansion came up during a recent conversation Rhule had with HuskerOnline. The coach is a strong supporter of more spots, pointing to differences in conference schedules.
The more spots the better, man. Make that thing 40 and let’s go,” Rhule said, per On3. “I think, again, you’re talking about a league that we play 9 conference games where some others play 8. So I think that puts you at an automatic disadvantage.
Forty spots won’t be necessary for Rhule to get his wish for more uniform scheduling among conferences. The expanded CFP is expected to include 4 automatic bids for SEC teams. With that, the SEC is expected to add a 9th conference game to its schedule, as the conference would not have to worry about regular-season losses costing its teams spots in the CFP.
With the expanded Playoff, the SEC and B1G are not only expected to have 9 conference games each, but there is also talk of SEC and B1G teams playing each other annually, sold as a separate TV package.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
