Paul Finebaum calls 24-team College Football Playoff ‘worst possibility in the history of the game’
By Andrew Olson
Published:
With the proposed 24-team College Football Playoff format gaining momentum, Paul Finebaum is speaking out. On Thursday’s Get Up, the ESPN analyst shredded the suggested format.
“The right number is probably 4, but we have 12, and we’re going to 16 or 24. Twenty-four is the worst possibility, I think, in the history of this game,” Finebaum said. “Because it is going to devalue, dilute, and perhaps destroy the greatest football season of them all, and that’s the regular season in college football.
“The big games at the end of the season are going to be meaningless. This is not the NFL where you try to position for a wild card or a home-field (advantage).”
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Finebaum takes issue with recent comments by Jim Phillips, directly calling out the ACC commissioner on Thursday morning.
“There just simply aren’t enough good teams, and I respect Jim Phillips. You introduced me to him, Greeny, a couple years ago, and he’s become a very good friend,” Finebaum said.
“But the fact that the ACC campaigned against Notre Dame by pushing Miami is just laughable that now he’s talking about Notre Dame being a championship-worthy team. They weren’t a championship-worthy team. They lost two games and they really didn’t have that much of an argument.”
"Twenty-four is the worst possibility I think in the history of this game. … It is going to devalue, dilute and perhaps destroy the greatest football season of them all."@finebaum believes that the CFP expanding will harm the value of the regular season 👀 pic.twitter.com/EZOTuQxBXV
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) May 14, 2026
The Big Ten has long been behind the push for a 24-team Playoff. Recently, the ACC and Big 12 have publicly endorsed the proposal. The SEC is in favor of a 16-team Playoff.
“This is about the Big Ten, and they’re getting a lot of help, and the SEC is right to say, no, we don’t want that,” Finebaum said.
“And by the way, the most important thing Jim Phillips said, if I can say this on ESPN, is that ESPN doesn’t want it either, and right now they control the CFP.”
For 2026, the CFP will continue the 12-team format. Football fans everywhere will be closely following the developments to come.
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.
