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Are other SEC coaches ready to Get Smart? BTW, that 2-loss Vandy team was defeated by 4-loss Iowa. https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/kirby-smart-josh-heupel-24-team-cfp-format-sec-coaches/

True, but not the expenses of both fan bases. Just levels the playing field?

RIP Lou Holtz. On3Lou Holtz, legendary Notre Dame and Arkansas head coach,....

I think I was around six years old when I first heard my mom refer to the Sports Pages as the Men's Gossip Column. 🤪 As was the case with most things in life, she wasn't wrong. On3 has an article up (Members Only) ranking the 10 'juiciest' college football games in 2026, the games with the most pregame buzz, a/k/a gossip. 1. LSU at Ole Miss - Lane Kiffin's first SEC game as the LSU head coach, against the MISS Lane left at the altar. Maybe 'Life' is a movie? 2. Ohio State at Texas -Impactful? Yes. Juicy? Meh. It's a big game featuring a B1G team and also featuring two top and now experienced QBs. Unlike last season, both teams have a Week 1 warm-up before meeting in Week 2. But gossip? Just Sayin. 3. Miami at Notre Dame - Is there any piñata left over from the 2025 Notre Dame playoff pity party? Are the Domers still P(eed) O(ff)? There are 12 reasons they shouldn't be. 4. Georgia at Alabama - Will Kirby Get Smart and get off the DeBoer 0-for-2 skid? (And the 12-team PO 0-2 skid?) 5. Florida at Auburn - With apologies to friend Gat and the Round Mound of Rebound, HUH? 6. Penn State at Michigan - Will Whit need a walker? Can you move folks from Ames to College Station and turn them into B1G winners? 7. Texas Tech at Cincinnati - Red Raiders Sorsby: 'Is there a lawyer in the house? Contract? I don't care about no stinking contract!' 8. OREGON at USC - Dan and Linc are heading into season five - any doubt about the better hire? "... an opportunity for Riley to show he has finally fielded a team that can go toe-to-toe with one of the country's premier programs."🦆😍 9. Duke at Miami - Meh. The Hurricanes were smart enough to pay the Devils their due for the theft of Mensah. 10. Texas at Texas A+M - If these two teams are not Playoff locks before the last game of the regular season, the Eyes of Texas will be watching to see if Sark and Elk are still employed. 🤬Where's Canzano? No New World Pac-12 games on the list, shameful!

Absolutely... I can see pushing things to 16 just to get rid of first round byes entirely. Make everyone play. But after that there is some prestige lost for making the playoff. Get ranked in the top 24 and be in... that is 3 loss teams galore! I think there needs to be a reevaluation of the rankings to be honest because the notion that the B1G can only get 3 teams in and the SEC got 4 and I would argue Bama and Oklahoma probably didn't belong. Bama over Notre Dame is debatable but the committee opted to not anger the SEC, which in itself shows why ND needs to join a conference because the committee's fear of angering a conference is far greater than angering independent ND but they bent to give them a freebie for now. The talent difference between top 10 and top 24 is a gulf and there will be blow outs in the first two rounds. It's just the way it would be.

Not really referring to the actual games. Oregon’s sports budget was slightly in the black with just over $185 million in revenue. Costs and revenue increased around $15 million from 2024 to 2025, and they just added another $20 million in NIL costs for this year. There is a breaking point for Oregon sports at some point.

Any Calipari defeat is glorious!

Thank you, Charles, for another much-needed and much-appreciated editing job.

Montlake prowess strikes again.

Yes, and that is a big problem for the teams' fans with the added expenses.

Speaking of a Cal game. Not sure of the year but it was at Berkeley in a monsoon (of course, if it was raining we all know it wasn't in Autzen 🤣) the field was flooding so the brainiac ground keepers were trying to pitchfork the artificial turf (over concrete) to drain the "grass".

Seems to me that there is hardly any people in the stands at the lower tier bowls as it is. A home game would be better.

Another option is to eliminate 2nd round home field advantage, and award those games in a bidding process to lower tier bowl game cities. Would mean more travel, but more $$.

I understand and thank you for your comment. The 24-team NCAA managed football playoffs do not seem 'dirty' to me, and more importantly, to the fans of teams in the field. Two rounds of home games in a 24-team FBS playoff? Bring it on! Good point on expenses rising to meet the new income, but Lane County, among others, would benefit from the Ducks playing one or two more home games. If third parties coming up with NIL money have to pay more for an athlete's services, fine with me. Direct payments for football would likely increase, but would not mirror the increase in revenue, I think? Thanks for the comment.

I don’t like byes…as the team that is supposed to be given an advantage suffers the reverse. Sixteen or thirty-two…no byes!

OK, you're weird! 😁 In the last two seasons with a 12-team field, we have seen more blowouts (SIGH 🤬) than competitive games.

I think the conferences will end up opting for a format that generates the most revenue, and college football fans, and sports bettors, will watch. I really don’t care which format, but reserve the right to critique. A playoff bracket has only one team move beyond the bracket. Does anybody think a 16 seed in basketball will win a championship? However, an 8 seed in football, beating a 1 seed would be glorious, as long as your team is not that top seed. The media will battle for the rights to broadcast future CFP games, media revenues increase, which automatically increases NIL expenditures, and ticket prices spiral in order to stay “competitive “. Don’t get me wrong, it is great entertainment, but it does feel dirty in so many ways.

I like the dream, but the lawyer fees would be a nightmare.

Eight D1 power conferences with 8-10 teams each based on geography. Complete round robin for each conference allows all teams to face off. No conference championship game needed. Top 2 go to playoffs. If you're not top 2, you're not a champion, try again next year. (There is a loophole that allows a mid-major to replace a 2 if certain thresholds/ranking are not met.) Playoffs: 1st weekend in December: Top 2 from each conference go to a regional playoff where 1's battle 2's at home. 2nd weekend in December: Remaining 8 are seeded and square off with top seed at home. January 1st: Semifinals Next reasonable Saturday: Championship All players are unpaid amateur student athletes. The stage college football offers and their education is their reward. All players must sit out one year following a transfer to another D1 school with the exception of graduate transfers. All head coaches under contract cannot take another D1 position without sitting out for one year. As long as we're dreaming, that's my dream.

Sitting in the stands watching guys like Reuben Drougns and Mo Morris, at a time when Oregon was just budding... Oregon victory on a barely blocked FG (Autzenvs UCLA?)... The key defender (sorry, the image is sharp, but my memory for names isn't) joyfully running off the field waving his successful fingertip in the air. Oregon vs Cal,on a sunny fall day in the 70's. My bestfriend and I (literally) were sitting alone in the east end zone Running back battle between then Bobby Moore and Isaac Curtis. Curtis busted a 63 yard run for a 1st down. An acquaintance of mine was holding the down marker, but missed the play because he was busy, watching Cal's 2 cheerleaders. (TBH, during warmups, so were the Oregon football players!) He failed to notice the play, despite ref whistles and screaming spectators trying to get his attention. A ref finally ran back and chased him into position. Dude never worked another game. Gawd I'm old.

Call me weird, but I feelas if 24 is too much... 16 would give a decent number of qualifying teams, every season. At 24, I believe therewouldbe a fair number of blowouts, most years.

I've already stuck a fork in it, doubt adding 12 more over paid and under prepared 'clown-squads' will improve anything... I'll still watch, just never quite sure what it is I'm seeing. Go Ducks!

Good point, but looking at the1st-round games that would be played on campus, many more viewers would be watching than watching the teams play in bowl games. Correspondingly, media entities shut out by ESPN from PO broadcasts, such as Fox, CBS, NBC, and others, would join the bidding, and ESPN would also have to increase what it is paying per playoff game. A 24-team PO field would help save the ACC, two additional teams in the field, and the B12, three more teams in, as viable entities, and two more teams in the field would drop more money in Greg Sankey's jeans. Five more B1G teams in. Perhaps the increase in the price to attend Oregon football games would be more modest. College sports programs are in a Battle for the Benjamins. A businessman has come up with an idea to make far more money from the football postseason. And he's dumped on? I don't know about my Forum Friends, but for me, the 1st round games would be must-watch TV. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

It’s a disaster overall right now, imo. I think it helps if structured correctly, and calendar adjustments are made that make sense for both the playoff and the off-season. These adjustments are more important than the number of teams imo, but if 24 magically makes it happen, then whatever…it would be better. 24 teams without opt outs will absolutely improve the overall post season experience.

Ooops. After last season's Playoff Pity Party in South Bend, the Domers automatically qualify and are Playoff Golden if ranked 12th or higher in the final PO Committee ranking. 🤑 Not July 4th yet, but is anyone else thinking about being Independent?