The College Football Playoff will be moving away from a 12-team format in 2027 after a three-year run. This sport’s postseason will double in size to 24 teams. Many are not happy about that decision. Kentucky head coach Will Stein is not one of those people.
The former Oregon offensive coordinator coached in the 12-team format twice with the Ducks. He is a proponent of expansion and believes the popular take for those in the anit-expansion camp is a soft one.
“Everybody says that the games aren’t going to matter. I mean, like really? I think that’s a really lame take, to be honest. As far as I know, every game in college football is still going to matter, and these games are still going to matter. So it definitely needed to expand,” Stein told KSR. “I don’t know if it was 16 or 24, but especially in our league…you play nine conference games, and we play an out-of-conference against Louisville, who is a really good program and team. There’s 10 games on our schedule that are really, really, really hard, and you beat each other up in the SEC.”
“I think those takes are bad.”
Moving to a 24-team bracket enhances opportunities for college football’s middle class. Most notably, it increases access since this sport is treated like a tournament. Access is needed with bloated conferences. Just last season, a 10-2 Vanderbilt team that went 7-2 against power conference competition was left out of the postseason with Heisman Trophy contender at quarterback. What’s the point of an expanded playoff if that team can’t get in? The bowl system is dying. College football has to embrace being a tournament sport. This is what the playoff expansion will bring. It will also bring opportunities late in the season for many in power conference football. Especially those in the Big Ten or SEC.
Kentucky is a contender heading into the final six weeks of the season for a bid to the 12-team playoff. Years like this one could put the Cats in position to get a home game or two in the playoff. Think about how cool that atmosphere would be in Lexington. Kentucky’s head football coach is already thinking about it as a proponent of expansion.
“I think it was the right thing to do,” Stein said. “I didn’t know if it was going to be 16 or 24, but regardless, you tell me y’all won’t want a playoff game here in Kroger Field?”
