Here's why a 24-team playoff will ruin great football weekends like this one

The most disappointing aspect of the upcoming 24-team college football playoff isn’t that it will result in fewer high-quality, significant games. College football will always feature important matchups that everyone wants to watch, like the one coming up soon. However, under the 24-team playoff, all those critical games will shift from September, October, and early November into late December.

To illustrate this change, let’s examine this weekend’s games using the current 4-team playoff rankings as our guide: Miami (1) at Notre Dame (11). With a 4-team playoff, Miami would be fighting for its playoff spot, while Notre Dame would simply be a spoiler. In a 12-team playoff, Miami would automatically make the playoffs, and Notre Dame would have to win out just to stay in contention.

With a 24-team playoff, Miami would likely secure a bye, and Notre Dame would remain in the playoff field, regardless of its performance. This pattern continues with other matchups. Against Georgia (2) at Ole Miss (10), a loss for Georgia would severely impact its chances, while Ole Miss would struggle to stay alive without help.

Similarly, in the matchup between BYU (9) at Utah (3), a loss for Utah would put its playoff hopes in jeopardy, while BYU might be able to climb into contention with a win. The 24-team playoff would transform this into a “Battle for a Bye,” lacking the excitement of a crucial game. The same holds true for Alabama (5) at LSU (14) and Kentucky (6) at Tennessee (13).

In these games, the stakes would be significantly diminished under the 24-team playoff format. The 12-team playoff format is seen as the ideal solution, as it maintains meaningful regular-season games and creates a more compelling postseason bracket. Of the nine games involving Top-15 teams this weekend, a 12-team playoff would ensure that all nine games still carry significant weight, whereas only three would matter in a 24-team playoff.

In a 12-team playoff, fans would be anxious to see if Ohio State, Ole Miss, and LSU could secure playoff spots. In a 24-team playoff, the focus would shift to whether three-loss teams like Oregon, Minnesota, and West Virginia would even make the playoffs. This raises the question: when the 24-team playoff arrives, will we witness top teams vying for playoff seeding or three-loss teams fighting for a participation trophy? It’s unlikely to be the thrilling competition fans have come to expect.