The 24-Team Playoff Will End 'The Game' As We Know It Between Michigan, Ohio State

Money does the talking during this day and age, but if a 24-team playoff happens — it ruins one of the greatest rivalries in college football.

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We've had the 12-team College Football Playoff for just two seasons, but in the new reality of college football, the landscape is ever-changing — especially when money is involved. After just two seasons of seeing the playoff expanded from four teams to 12, there is more talk of expansion.

Both the Big Ten Conference and the Big 12 are in favor of expanding the playoff to 24 teams. Once the SEC comes to an agreement, a 24-team playoff will be the new norm in college football. It might take another season, or two, but that's the path we are headed toward.

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And for coaches and conferences, it makes sense. The storied tradition of college football will be affected and the regular season becomes more and more meaningless, but for conferences and coaches, it allows them to make more money to spend on rosters and upgrades.

Plus, your middle-of-the-road conference teams, such as Illinois, Maryland, and Iowa, among others, will benefit by going to 24 teams. They will all have a shot at making it. But in a four-team, or even 12-team, the odds are stacked against them.

However, there will be unintended consequences of a 24-team playoff, and the greatest rivalry in all sports — Michigan vs. Ohio State — will be one of those and 'The Game' will never be the same.

The last meaningful game has likely already been played

As long as the 12-team playoff stands, there could be more meaningful games played between the Wolverines and the Buckeyes when that last regular-season Saturday comes. Just like this past season, if Michigan could've defeated Ohio State, Michigan likely would have made the College Football Playoff. But Ohio State took Michigan down and the Wolverines missed out for the second year in a row.

There will always be rivalry banter between the two programs and fanbase — which is what makes the high-stakes rivalry so much fun. But as far as high-stakes games, we won't ever see it again. We will never see another No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown where the winner makes it to the BCS National Championship Game, like back in 2006, when OSU edged Michigan out to make the title game and left Michigan out.

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2023 was likely the last truly meaningful game played between these two storied programs, which for tradition purposes, is sad. Michigan took down OSU in 2023 and after the loss, Ohio State missed the final four-game College Football Playoff. The only way we would see another truly meaningful game played between these two teams would be if they met one another in the CFP or the title game.

Part of what made Michigan and Ohio State even greater than just the rich tradition of the rivalry itself was that both programs usually had a chance to either win or go home. In the 2000s, OSU dominated the rivalry, and even if the Wolverines were out of the BCS picture — or even four-team playoff picture — Michigan knew if it beat Ohio State that the Buckeyes could've been eliminated from contention.

Could we see the unthinkable?

The 24-team College Football Playoff feels inevitable. Now it's not just if it happens, but rather when it happens. When 24 teams get into the College Football Playoff, it does nothing for the elite programs. Your Ohio States, Georgias, Alabams, Oregons, and even Michigans of the world should never miss another playoff. With today's resources and NIL, if a major program like that misses a 24-team playoff, the head coach could be in some trouble.

And when that 24-team playoff does begin, and Michigan and Ohio State is still the last regular-season game of the season, could we see the unthinkable happen? The Conference Championship Games will likely be dissolved, and if both UM and OSU have a playoff spot locked up, would either team sit their star players?

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At first thought, it's like 'absolutely not, it's Ohio State vs. Michigan'. But when you are paying players like professionals, and you have a potential College Football Championship on the line, you don't want your stars to be injured. It's certainly a possibility, and one that teams would start to consider. When you're adding more and more teams in the CFP, this will be an unintended consequence for some rivalry games. Even if Michigan-Ohio State doesn't go to that extreme, there will be at least one major rivalry out there that does.

There would only be one way to solve the meaning of 'The Game' and it breaks tradition

It's Michigan vs. Ohio State and the greatest rivalry would need to be preserved. But there would only be one way to do just that, which would ruin the tradition that we've come to love. 'The Game' has always been played on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, which has become a national holiday for sports lovers.

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But to continue having Michigan vs. Ohio State have high stakes, the game would need to be moved to an earlier week. Rather you go full overboard, and move it to Week 1 of the season, or move it to the first Big Ten game of the season, or even just right in the middle of the season — it would need moved.

You would solve teams potentially sitting players, the game losing stakes, and even possibly seeing the two teams playing one another in just a few weeks of time — assuming both would make the playoff. But this ruins the tradition. And while ruining the great tradition isn't something anyone wants to see, college football itself continues to evolve and likely this rivalry will have to as well.