The perfect option for CFB expansion

Amongst the debates over the format for the College Football Playoff, I believe there is a perfect option for expansion that already exists. 

The Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) is the only NCAA division that does not have an NCAA-sanctioned championship. Tradition has prevented college football from moving on from the ancient idea of bowl games, and frankly, that’s hurting the sport. 

Below the FBS is the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), which has a tournament that, in technicality, counts as the Division 1 National Championship. 24 teams, including the FCS conference champions, make the tournament. Sixteen teams play in the first round while the top eight have byes to the second round, and the teams dwindle down to two, who then play in the National Championship in Nashville, Tennessee. 

Personally, I believe the FCS format is the best option for the FBS. In the time of NIL and the transfer portal, parity is both decreasing and increasing. The gap between the top and bottom Power 4 conference teams is closer, but the gap between Power 4 and Group of 5 teams has increased over time due to these new rules. If you have a name brand and financial backing, you can pretty much stealplayers from teams who don’t have such benefits. 

A 24-team format with all 10 conference champions could help close the gap. A group of 5 teams will finally have a platform to display their brand nationally, and it incentivizes good conference play during an era where non-conference games are becoming rarer. 

Would every conference be competitive? No, it’s not that way even in the FCS. However, that gap would certainly decrease and lead to possible underdog runs in an expanded playoff. This season, the Ivy League, who only allowed their teams to start playing in the playoffs in 2025, fielded two teams in Harvard and Yale. Yale would go on to upset 15-seeded Youngstown State in a game many predicted to be a blowout. Who’s to say the same wouldn’t happen if a Group of 65team played a Power 4 team in an expanded playoff? 

Would bowl games suffer? Yes. Do I care? No. Bowl games are at this point participation trophy games, and I don’t believe they should exist anymore. The Playoff bowl games and maybe some of the non-playoff bowls like the Pop-Tarts Bowl or the Citrus Bowl are the few that give good action consistently and maybe deserve to exist in an expanded playoff world, but small bowls like the Xbox Bowl or the Boca Raton Bowl should be removed.  

Would it fix every issue? Absolutely not. But I think it’s a step in the right direction. 

One topic that has come up frequently when it comes to the playoffs is bowl games vs home-field games. I personally don’t have a horse in this race. Bowl games give a neutral-site and historic feel to playoff games, but home-field games give teams who perform well a reward in the playoffs. I think both have pros and cons that would need to be weighed by the committee. 

Notre Dame is a controversial topic due to their standing as a Power-4-esque independent. There’s an easy solution to the Notre Dame problem – make them join a conference. The Irish are in the ACC for everything except college football, and they refuse to join a conference for tradition and the ability to control their own schedule. Make a rule where teams not a part of a FBS conference can’t make the playoffs to force Notre Dame’s hand.

Also UConn, since they too are independent in football only. 

The FCS format is the perfect format for the College Football Playoff, but it’ll probably never be adopted. Just this year, the previous rule about the top 5 conference champions making the CFP was changed to the Power 4 conference champions plus the “top non-Power 4 team”. 

That includes Notre Dame, who already have a provision that if they make the top 12 in the final AP Poll, they are automatically in the playoffs. So yes, the Group of 5 could go from two teams in the playoffs to zero within a year. 

It’s obvious that the College Football Playoff committee and, by extension, the Power 4 conferences don’t want the Group of 65in the playoffs. I don’t believe that they’re doing this because they believe the Group of 5 don’t deserve it, but because they’re scared of what those "mid-majors" can do if given the platform to compete. 

If we truly want to fix college football, we already have the solution in the FCS Playoffs.

Adopt their format and watch how a number of issues get fixed because of it. 

It’s about time we do something.