Big Ten’s Proposed 24-Team Playoff Would Help the Gophers, Hurt College Football

Minnesota could have a realistic shot at being a playoff team in the near future.

Dec 26, 2025; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Minnesota Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck with the trophy after defeating the New Mexico Lobos in overtime of the Rate Bowl at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

College Football Playoff expansion has been an ongoing discussion for the better part of two decades. A change to the current 12-team format seems inevitable. Reports emerged from the Big Ten's spring meetings this week that the league's commissioner, Tony Petitti, wants a 24-team playoff. That would help programs like Minnesota, but hurt the long-term health of college football. Here's why.

College football isn't the NFL. It never has been, but it seems like TV executives and conference commissioners are doing everything they can to copy America's top professional league. Player compensation and the transfer portal (or free agency) have essentially created a professional league, but that hasn't hurt viewership. It's because every game feels like it matters.

The postseason is the most important part of every major professional league in American sports. That has never been the case in college football. The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) felt like the perfect happy medium between creating a fair system to decide a national champion, while still keeping the history of bowl season. We're never going back to that, but that doesn't mean we have to go completely in the other direction.

The Gophers would've comfortably made the 24-team playoff if it had existed in 2019. They would've been firmly on the bubble in 2022 and 2023. The Outback Bowl on New Year's Day in 2020 would've essentially been a College Football Playoff game. There are obviously benefits to that situation for programs like Minnesota, but it would completely change the entire fabric of a sport that has been a part of American culture for more than 150 years.

Minnesota wide receiver Tyler Johnson (6) catches a touchdown pass over Auburn defensive back Jeremiah Dinson (20) during the Outback Bowl at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2020. Minnesota leads Auburn 24-17 at halftime. Jc Outbackbowl 50 | Jake Crandall/ Advertiser, Montgomery Advertiser via Imagn Content Services, LLC

One of the biggest issues facing American pro sports today is the playoff-or-bust mindset. Bringing that to college football could spell trouble, and the 24-team playoff would be one step closer. When a pro team is eliminated from playoff contention, much of its fanbase checks out, and the team spends the final part of the regular season preparing for the next year. You could argue that college teams are already doing this with the transfer portal, but that doesn't mean we need to feed into it. Decision-making from administrators, coaches and fans would completely change.

Every college football regular-season game feels important, and decision-makers in the sport should be doing everything they can to hold on to that. Whenever I see stuff like this and the new 76-team NCAA Tournament in college basketball, I always think, "Who asked for this?"

We live in a society where money controls any major business decision, so this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. This decision will drive more money into the sport, but why do we need it? College athletes are making millions of dollars, and coaching salaries have never been higher.

Will Minnesota playing in a first-round playoff game, compared to the Outback Bowl, be a massive difference? Maybe, but we don't need to completely change the fabric of the sport to find out.