FRISCO, Texas (AP) — Big 12 coaches unanimously agreed Thursday on their preference for a 24-team College Football Playoff, a scenario in which the conference would have had five playoff teams last season instead of only league champion Texas Tech like it did in the current 12-team playoff format.
When the 16 coaches were informally polled about doubling the size of the playoff field during one of their sessions at the Big 12 spring meetings, all of them raised their hands.
“They should ask coaches for more opinions on what's best for college football,” West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez said. “We voted and it was unanimous. ... Who knows where that goes.”
Scott Draper, the league's chief competition officer, said the coaches took part in an hour-plus presentation by the CFP staff.
“If the 24-team playoff started last year, we would have had five teams in,” Draper said. “We were the second-ranked conference, strength of conference, in their metrics last year. So I'm confident that we'll be well-represented in a 24-team playoff.”
Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark has expressed his support for a 24-team playoff if the economics of such an expansion make sense. Yormark is scheduled to address reporters Friday at the end the league's spring meetings.
League runner-up BYU's only two losses last season were to Texas Tech, first in the regular season and then in the Big 12 championship game. The Cougars were 12th in the final CFP rankings last year, but they and No. 11 Notre Dame were left out of the playoff because of automatic qualifiers that instead got into the field. Three other Big 12 teams were in that final poll: with Utah 15th, Arizona 17th and Houston 21st.
Texas Tech was fourth in the CFP rankings and got a first-round playoff bye before losing to Oregon in the Orange Bowl on New Year's Day.
A 24-team playoff would eliminate automatic qualifiers and render conference title games virtually meaningless.
Because the Big Ten and SEC haven’t been able to agree on the playoff format, it remained at 12 teams for the upcoming season. The deadline to decide about 2027 is Dec. 1.
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
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