Whether the move is good or bad, there’s a possible rule change on the table that could make the Oklahoma Sooners into almost permanent College Football Playoff participants.
ESPN’s Heather Dinich reported Tuesday morning that on Monday, commissioners from each Power Four conference met and discussed the possibility of doubling the 12-team CFP field to 24 teams. For a program like OU, where being ranked is the minimum standard, that would mean almost an annual appearance in the playoff as if it’s just like making a bowl game.
Committee discussing College Football Playoff expansion
According to Dinich, the idea was first sparked by the Big Ten, and the possibility of it becoming reality “has some merit.” It’s not expected to happen by next season in 2026, though, and there will be more meetings in the coming weeks for further discussion. The contract for the playoff to be at 12 teams expires after this season. The playoff was just expanded from four teams to 12 last season.
Some college football fans will always be against playoff expansion, but even for those wanting more programs to get a chance, this is bad timing for that argument. With two weeks left in the regular season, there barely seems to be 12 teams worthy of a playoff spot, with the ACC and Group of Five conferences likely getting representatives from outside the top 12, and maybe even the top 25 with how things have been going.
The Sooners, though, at 8-2, are right in the middle of the playoff picture after back-to-back ranked road upsets over Tennessee and Alabama. They’ve been on the outside looking in the last two weeks, but after taking down the Crimson Tide on Saturday, the Sooners should be comfortably in the field when the new CFP rankings are announced Tuesday evening.
If the Sooners win out, this would be the first time they make the CFP with a 12-team field. They got into the original four-team field four times while members of the Big 12. That could become a much more common occurrence, though.
The first season of CFP rankings decided by the committee was 2014. The Sooners have finished inside the top 24 of the rankings eight times since, meaning they’ve been unranked only three times. OU is also projected to finish well inside the top 24 this season. That’s nine of 12 seasons that the Sooners would make the playoff with an expanded 24-team field. And two of those seasons were considered historically bad.
The Sooners would basically have a reserved seat at the table with a 24-team field, and so would many other programs, ultimately dulling the shine of a season like the Sooners are in the midst of right now.