Overview: Big 12 coaches and administrators voiced unanimous support for an expansion of the College Football Playoff from 12 to 24 teams during the conference’s spring business meetings in Texas.
PHOENIX – The Big 12 Conference’s position on College Football Playoff expansion is crystal clear. West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez, who previously coached at Arizona, said there is league-wide backing for increasing the current 12-team field to 24.
“We voted and it was unanimous,” Rodriguez said. “I think the democratic way to do it is to ask everybody’s opinion. They should ask coaches for more opinions on what’s best for college football. Every coach voted for the 24-team playoff, so who knows where that goes, cause it’s just coaches.”
The Big 12 Conference’s annual spring business meetings continued on Thursday, with Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire, Rodriguez and Big 12 Chief Football & Competition Officer Scott Draper discussing various topics, including the American Football Coaches Association May 5 vote to recommend expanding the CFP.
Draper believes an expanded field could bring more respect to the conference nationally.
“We sat through an hour-plus presentation from the CFP staff today that talked about the strength of the Big 12,” Draper said. “Not just individual teams, but the strength of the whole conference. We were their second-ranked conference in their metrics last year.”
Draper said he is confident that the conference would benefit from an expanded field.
“I’m confident that we’ll be well-represented in a 24-team playoff,” he said. “I certainly believe that these men and the others in our room will do everything they can to get a team in there and we’ll do everything we can to support that.”
Since the field expanded to 12 teams two seasons ago, the Big 12 has sent two teams to the CFP: Arizona State in 2024-25 and Texas Tech last season.
Had the currently proposed format been in place a season ago, McGuire and Draper said the conference would have seen more entrants.
“If the 24-team playoff started last year, we would’ve had five teams in,” Draper said. “I do just believe in this conference and it’s unfortunate we weren’t represented with a couple teams last year. I think that’s one reason we believe that 24 teams is a better spot for us.”
McGuire defended the quality of the conference when asked about Texas coach Steve Sarkisian’s comments alluding to a fellow Texas program playing a weaker schedule.
Sarkisian did not name the team, but most analysts suspect he was talking about Texas Tech.
“I understand where they’re coming from,” McGuire said. “But I think you’re discounting what our teams do and you’re discounting the schedule and teams that we play. I don’t think you can do that. I think we have a great conference from top to bottom. We’re so competitive and it’s a tough conference to play in.
McGuire went so far as to say his team would buy out Texas’s Week 1 matchup with Texas State to play Sarkisian’s Longhorns.
“I do know that (Texas Tech booster) Cody Campbell reached out to (Cowboys co-owner) Stephen Jones,” McGuire said. “If they don’t want to come to Lubbock then we’re gonna work on trying to get AT&T (Stadium) Week 1. We would love to play the University of Texas.”
The trio were also asked about the NCAA’s pending eligibility rules and a possible updated calendar. The NCAA is in the process of reviewing a rule that would grant athletes five years of athletic eligibility.
“I think everybody realized that what we’re doing right now is not sustainable for any athletic department,” Rodriguez said. “You’ve got to try and come up with some solutions.”
Draper agreed that change must come.
“We all believe that the way it currently exists where the portal is, that the life that they have to live in January is difficult,” Draper said.
McGuire would also like to see a return to a more traditional end-of-season date.
“The NCAA does not govern the postseason CFP,” he said. “There’s lots of triggers and mechanisms to adjust the calendar, but currently it’s wrapped in the MOU (memorandum of understanding) that exists. To change that, the MOU has to change.
“Whenever I’ve talked to any coach, and all of our coaches, we want to get it as close to where it was before where you usually had to kick that game somewhere between the seventh and the 12th (of January). We’d like to get back to that.”
With uncertainty clouding the current college football landscape, the Big 12’s football leaders emphasized the need for stability and a new direction.
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