Imagining what a 24-team College Football Playoff could look like in 2026

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Imagining what a 24-team College Football Playoff could look like in 2026

Jaren Kawada, ClutchPoints · ClutchPoints

Thu, Jan 22, 2026 ·

6 min read

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Imagining what a 24-team College Football Playoff could look like in 2026 appeared first on ClutchPoints . Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here .

Despite expanding to 12 teams in 2024, the College Football Playoff s are reportedly interested in moving to a 24-team bracket. The change will not occur before the 2026 season begins, but given that it is still under discussion, the possibility remains in play.

The College Football Playoff committee is still working out the kinks of its 12-team format, which has already caused some concerns. Many criticize the tournament's format, which seemingly punishes the top four teams with a first-round bye.

The eight teams to secure a top-four seed and a first-round bye in the last two years are a combined 1-7. The 2025 Indiana team, which became the first to go 16-0 in the 12-team College Football Playoff era, is the lone exception.

Needless to say, the 12-team bracket is far from perfect, making another expansion seem too soon. Yet, that is exactly what happened in 2024, when the playoffs grew from four teams to 12.

Although still at least a year away from another College Football Playoff format change, here is what a 24-team bracket would look like in 2025 and 2026.

Every conference gets a bid

If the playoffs expand to 24 teams, every conference would likely receive an automatic bid. Auto bids came to fruition when the field expanded to 12 teams in 2024, and doubling that number would create more than enough room to give all 11 conferences a path to the playoffs.

Although there were only 10 conferences in 2025, the Pac-12 is set to return in 2026, increasing the field to 11.

The current field only guarantees that the five highest-ranked conference champions make the field, including a Group of Five bid. That left unranked Duke, the 2025 ACC Championship Game winner, out of the field in favor of No. 24 James Madison last season.

If every conference had an automatic bid, like in college basketball, both Duke and James Madison would have been in. That would also have included Mountain West champion Boise State, MAC champion Western Michigan and Conference USA champion Kennesaw State.

Giving every league a bid would not guarantee any seeding. In fact, no conference champion would be granted a higher seed. Winning the conference championship game awards a bid, but seeding would be done separately once the field is set, much like March Madness.

The modern 12-team College Football Playoff format then awards at-large bids to the seven highest-ranked non-champions. An expanded 24-team field would increase that number to 13.

Creating such a rule opens the door for more upsets and postseason chaos. It could also finally force Notre Dame to join a conference to compete for a bid.

24-team College Football Playoff bracket formation

The most difficult aspect of a 24-team College Football Playoff would be working out its format. That hurdle will likely be the biggest obstacle to a potential expansion and the final barrier to be broken if it ever happens.

Any changes to the format would likely have to eliminate the first-round bye , considering the current backlash and criticism. At the very least, the higher-seeded teams awarded the bye should be granted home-field advantage in their first appearances, much like the NFL.

A 24-team bracket might include more bowl games, which already have predetermined neutral sites. However, it could also simply create more of its own games to give more teams a home-field advantage.

Without any byes, a 24-team field could be broken down in a few different ways. There could simply be one bracket with each team seeded from No. 1 to No. 24, pitting the top-ranked team against No. 24 and No. 2 against No. 23, and so forth.

The field could also be split into two 12-team brackets, with the winners of each bracket facing off in the National Championship Game.

On that same wavelength, the 24-team College Football Playoffs could consist of four six-team brackets to emulate a mini football version of March Madness.

The College Football Playoff committee could also keep the first-round byes in place, even in a 24-team field. In that case, eight teams would receive an extended break, while the other 16 compete in the first-round playoff games.

In either scenario, the College Football Playoff format would have to change to accommodate 12 more teams. But with the field doubling in size, scheduling would present another issue in the sports calendar.

Schedule timing would alter

Doubling the College Football Playoff field in 2026 would force the tournament to either begin sooner or end later. Each possibility presents its own set of potential issues.

In 2025, the 12-team bracket began on Dec. 19, two weeks after the conference title games. Moving that date up by a week would impede the long-standing tradition of giving the Army-Navy game its own week . President Trump recently amplified that by ordering a four-hour exclusive window for the storied rivalry game.

Although a bowl game already exists on the same day as Army-Navy, having the playoffs start that same week essentially removes either team from contention.

Pushing the National Championship Game back to accommodate more games could be equally problematic, as the NFL Playoffs typically begin immediately after the College Football Playoffs wrap up. The NFL and college football coexist all year, but with the NFL spreading out its playoff games across the weekend, scheduling would become an issue.

That scenario would either force the NFL and college football to go head-to-head or have the latter schedule College Football Playoff games earlier in the week. Both are feasible options, but none are ideal for television ratings.

A third option would be starting the entire college football season earlier, which would coincide with the weekend when universities typically have students move in. However, college athletes are already on campus by then, but the timing could get tricky for what is already a busy time in the academic calendar.

The most likely scenario has the college football season extending longer and pushing into the NFL Playoff calendar. It could also force changes in the entire season schedule to completely avoid any potential conflicts with the Super Bowl.

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