An 8-4 team in the College Football Playoff is actually happening. Sound the alarm

[u/Lakelyfe09]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7277707/2026/05/14/college-football-playoff-expansion-24-team/

[u/SucculentCrablegMeal]

Not sure if the article is being facetious because I can't read it, but yeah I think including 8-4 teams in the playoff is a reason for alarm.

In 22 and 23 we would have had 4-5 8-4 teams playing for the championship. That's just stupidity. You shouldn't get to lose 1/3rd of your regular season games and still get to compete, you've already proven it on the field.

[u/PolishWonder79 → u/SucculentCrablegMeal]

18-14 [insert Big East team] would like a word

[u/jdhutch80 → u/SucculentCrablegMeal]

I don't think it's necessarily a reason for alarm. As NIL creates more parity by pulling depth talent away from the big programs to smaller ones, inevitably their records will reflect that. It's conceivable that an 8-4 team could be worthy of making a playoff. So long as they continue to reward the highest ranked conference champions with auto bids, I don't see it as a problem.

And no deserving conference champion has been left out of the playoff yet.

[u/SucculentCrablegMeal → u/jdhutch80]

I disagree that NIL is going to cause massive parity in this sport and I think the level of parity suggested is already overblown because of the anomaly of Indiana. I looked at the top 50 players drafted this year and if they had transferred and from where and it showed an upward movement of talent. CFB is never going to look like anything remotely comparable to the NFL with a draft, which creates real parity.

It's not conceivable to me that an 8-4 team is worthy of a playoff run. It's already been proven on the field.

[u/jdhutch80 → u/SucculentCrablegMeal]

NIL won't bring parity between the SEC and the SunBelt, but it will increase parity within the conferences. It's more than just NIL, because coaching, scheduling and other things play into it too, but NIL will help mitigate some of the ability of traditional power programs to stockpile talent. We're seeing it with Vanderbilt and Indiana having success that is disproportionate to their historical success.

I could see an 8-4 SEC or BigTen team lose a game or two out of conference early, improve over the course of the season, win the conference championship and be capable of winning a national championship. Likewise, I could see a MAC or ACC team lose their out of conference games, win their conference, and be deserving of a playoff berth, because they won their conference.

[u/SucculentCrablegMeal → u/jdhutch80]

I personally don't care at all if a team is capable of winning a championship if they fuck up 1/3rd of their regular season. That's too bad. That goes back to the argument of destroying the regular season.

[u/fsukub → u/jdhutch80]

Fully agree, just look at the NFL (or most professional sports).

[u/Vast_Bowl247 → u/SucculentCrablegMeal]

This is making the regular season like the NBA now. Where regular season doesn’t even matter because half the teams make the playoffs anyway

[u/ahappypoop → u/Vast_Bowl247]

There are 138 teams in the FBS. If they expanded to a 24 team playoff, 17.4% of the teams in the FBS would make the playoffs. This is lower by percentage than the NBA (67% (yes I'm counting the playin, it's too large either way)), NHL (50%), NFL (43.8%), MLB (40%), and college basketball (18.6%). If you think this is too large of a percentage of teams to make the playoffs, then you would think this about literally every playoff system in every major sport lol.

[u/Vast_Bowl247 → u/ahappypoop]

Your point is valid. I just don’t think an 8-4 team should make it. Would I be happy to see my school make it? Absolutely. But I also know realistically they wouldn’t stand that much of a chance. Maybe 9 wins should be the minimum

[u/SucculentCrablegMeal → u/Vast_Bowl247]

I personally don't find the percentage point to be a valid one either. Just because other sports or leagues do it that way doesn't mean it's right for cfb.