(Photo: Aiden Longbrake/WCSN)
TEMPE — When Kenny Dillingham took over as the head coach of Arizona State football in 2023, the College Football Playoff’s four-team format was preparing for its final go-around before expanding to 12 teams the following year.
The 36-year-old hasn’t shied away from his determination to make sure the Sun Devils adapt to the ever-changing college football landscape, but just three years after taking over the program, he’ll have to adjust to another seismic change within the sport.
On Monday morning, the CFP Management Committee announced that a proposal to expand from 12 to 24 teams starting in the 2027-28 season was unanimously approved.
“It’s a new age in college football; it’s changing all the time,” Dillingham said. “That could change how teams build rosters. It could change how teams scheme because with more teams getting in, nobody’s going to want to face a team that runs midline or under center triple option for the 24th seed.
“You’d rather be the number one two seed than the number one seed. I think it changes the game a little bit because once you get into that tournament, there’s so many types of schemes you can run on offense and defense.”
The 24 participating teams will include the four conference champions from the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten and SEC; the highest-ranked team from a Group of Six conference; and 19 at-large teams determined by the CFP Selection Committee’s final rankings.
The first round includes eight games in which seeds No. 9 through No. 16 host the remaining teams on-campus. Each winner then travels to the homes of the top eight seeds, who also earn a first-round bye. From there, the quarterfinals and semifinals will continue to be played at the six designated CFP bowls before concluding with the national championship game in late January.
For reference, ASU would have earned the No. 12 seed and hosted No. 21 Syracuse at Mountain America Stadium in the first round if the 24-team playoff format had been implemented in 2024. If the Sun Devils had won, their reward would have been a trip to South Bend, Indiana, to take on No. 5 Notre Dame.
Expanding the field from 12 to 24 teams that same year would have also given entry to 19 teams with at least two losses; 10 of which entered bowl season with three losses. That level of parity is prominent in the latest CFP rankings this season as 14 of the top 24 teams already had at least two losses by Week 9.
“The parity is just what it is, and the more parity you get, it’s a shift because people are so used to going undefeated and winning one game,” Dillingham said. “That shift is parity is so unique to the college game where you’re so used to certain hierarchies, and you’re so used to certain dominance that now there is more parity, there’s more volatility because people have to respond. More teams are responding to failure and responding to situations.”
The other significant change included in the playoff expansion is the elimination of conference championship games at the Power Four level. Regular-season standings and conference tiebreakers will instead be used to determine which team receives an automatic bid to the tournament.
Two years ago, ASU defeated Iowa State in Arlington, Texas, for its first-ever Big 12 championship, and subsequently earned a one-way ticket to the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history.
Although the landmark victory is destined to become one of the final editions of the conference’s title game, the decision holds little weight to Dillingham. Instead, he’s more concerned with how playing in a tournament with teams from at least five conferences could affect preparation.
“I don’t ever talk to our guys about championships,” Dillingham said. “Even the year we won the Big 12 championship, I don’t know if I ever talked about the Big 12 championship. I always want our guys to be the best version of us. Be the best football team we can be, so that doesn’t really have an effect on me personally.
“I think the uniqueness of (a) scheme, because you’re playing across conferences, can become an advantage for teams. It can become very challenging to go versus when you’re in a week-to-week tournament, and in college, schemes are so drastically different. It could become interesting just kind of how that plays out and how teams take that and try to create an edge for their program, knowing that more teams get in.”
From the initial decision to expand to 12 teams in Sep. 2022 to Monday’s announcement, the CFP format has changed from four to 24 participants over the course of four years. The latest adjustment to the sport’s formula requires a top eight seed to win five consecutive games in order to take home a national title. Furthermore, teams that start out in the first round must win six consecutive games; the equivalent of half of a full season schedule.
Regardless, Dillingham views 12 more teams being added to the field as an opportunity. For the Sun Devils and all other teams hoping to be a part of college football’s penultimate tournament, the door to enter will be opened by a significant margin in less than a year.
“I think it benefits every team in the country that wants to get into the tournament,” Dillingham said. “Now if you’re a team that’s always top 10, you’re probably saying, ‘Dang, there’s some more games I’ve got to play’. But if you’re not one of those top 10 teams that are predominantly in, I think you’ve got a greater chance to enter the tournament. And if you get a greater chance to enter the tournament, it’s a tournament. You never know what happens from there.
“I definitely think it opens the door for more teams, including ourselves, to get into the tournament.”
