ESPN personalities criticize 24-team College Football Playoff on rightsholder's platform

Kevin Skiver, USA TODAYSat, October 17, 2026 at 3:02 PM UTC

This story has been with new information.

With the expansion to a 24-team College Football Playoff being imminent, no one seems to want it.

Just ask its rights holder's biggest personalities.

In a lengthy segment featuring Pete Thamel on ESPN's "College GameDay," the panel discussed what 24 teams will mean for college football. And while Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Nick Saban, Desmond Howard and Pat McAfee believe the tradition of college football is unassailable, they all had criticisms of the expanded format. Though some were more measured than others.

REQUIRED READING: SEC got played by Big Ten, and 24-team Playoff proves it | Opinion

Kirk Herbstreit on 24-team playoff

For Herbstreit, it was about the regular season's value being diminished.

"The regular season games — late August, early September — we get so excited for those game, and it's four months away from the playoff," Herbstreit said. "But it's important. All these years. When we went from four to 12 I think we were concerned: Is the regular season still going to still feel like it matters? Now we go from 12 to 24. My fear is I just hope it doesn't diminish those meaningful games that we get excited about like this weekend. Last weekend ... I hate [not having] that feeling of win: advance. Lose: you're out. Taking that away kind of hurts."

Pat McAfee on 24-team playoff

McAfee had a slightly more sunny disposition, though his optimism was also tempered.

"A lot of change has happened very quickly, you've kind of dropped it on everybody's head," McAfee said. "There's a lot of college football purists that hate everything about this ... The big games that are gonna come from the 9+1 from all of these conferences. Great for the sport as a whole. Not necessarily great that everybody who loses, doesn't matter anymore."

Nick Saban on 24-team playoff

Saban was a bit more pointed, and directly rebutted McAfee as well.

"First of all, you don't need a 24-team to have a 9+1, they did that in the SEC, they should've done that in all the conferences so we have more better games and people play a more equal schedule," Saban said. "The thing that concerns me the most about this is: how many games are too many games for college players to play? Y'know we played 15 games maybe three times, and I thought that was too many. Now you're gonna be able to play at least 17 maybe, which may be too many."

To Saban's point, Indiana tied a 131-year old record for wins in a season last year with 16, drawing even with Yale in 1894. While it's difficult to imagine a team going undefeated in this new structure, a new record can and likely will be set under a new format. He added:

"The other thing is, we've now lowered the bar to get in the playoffs, 24 teams," he said. "And we're gonna raise the expectations of the fans to get in the game. And where lots of coaches think 'this is gonna give me job security if I get in the playoffs,' it's also going to create an expectation that if you don't get in the playoffs we're gonna fire your ass."

Desmond Howard on 24-team playoff

Then, there was Desmond Howard, who said the new structure is going to further blur the lines between college football and the NFL.

"Yeah, we haven't really heard from the players ... But we're starting to creep towards an NFL-type schedule," Howard said. "Like people don't want to admit that but that's exactly where we're going. And I think they don't want to admit it because they don't want to inch towards a union. They don't want the players to unionize. But as we keep going this direction, that's what's gonna be on the table next." Howard then reiterated the point of diminished games in October, citing Alabama-Georgia, before saying "I was really good with 12, I think 24's a lot ... You don't have to make these changes to give teams hope, and guys are gonna get fired if they don't make the playoffs anyways."

Rece Davis on 24-team playoff

After all of that, Davis was the most critical of the new format.

"The hope thing doesn't carry any water with me," Davis said. "And I've been staunchly against this. I make no secret about that. I don't think it's great for the enterprise as a whole. But everybody says hope. Who had less hope than Indiana? Indiana's like a juggernaut, and they were able to do it in this thing. And I just wonder Nick. Desmond's point about the unionization of the players is a real one ... This is not finished, I don't think in the longterm."

It's a weird dichotomy to see play out. Five people (plus Thamel) discussing how the thing ESPN will be airing is bad for the sport on ESPN. And Herbstreit, in particular, was even more critical of the structure on a podcast appearance this week, whereas McAfee said Saban was more animatedly against the structure in production meetings.

All things told, the consensus is the same: if everybody is let into the party, it ceases to be a party worth going to. And as for the administrators and coaches who believe making it to the playoffs will be enough to save their jobs in perpetuity, there was an underlying threat from Saban and Howard, in particular: Very soon after this expansion, playoff appearances aren't going to be enough. Coaches will still need to win there to keep their jobs too, as one-and-dones won't be looked upon any more kindly.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ESPN personalities criticize 24-team College Football Playoff on rightsholder's platform

Source: Sports