Josh Pate Rips 24-Team College Football Playoff, Predicts Conference Model Collapse

College football analyst Josh Pate called the College Football Playoff’s expansion to 24 teams a last resort by the sport’s leaders and predicted the conference structure behind the decision may not last another five years.

“Playoffs expanded to 24 teams. It’s garbage. I hate it,” Pate said on Tuesday night’s edition of Josh Pate’s College Football Show. His comments came one day after the playoff and ESPN finalized a five-year deal worth nearly $1.7 billion.

Rich Clark’s fan sentiment comments

Rich Clark said the CFP is aware of the fan sentiment and “that many fans aren’t in favor of expansion” but … “we owe it to them to make this great and that really is our intent. We did take into account their sentiment… but we decided to move forward with it.”
— Heather Dinich (@CFBHeather) November 9, 2026

Pate saved his sharpest criticism for how the playoff handled Monday’s announcement. Executive director Rich Clark acknowledged on a media teleconference that many fans opposed expansion.

“We did take into account their sentiment, and that was rolled into this decision, but we decided to move forward with it,” Clark said.

Pate said he likes Clark personally and doesn’t blame him for the decision, but he called the message a slap in the face.

“Your voice was heard,” Pate said. “Your voice just doesn’t matter.”

He said the logic behind the move has nothing to do with its stated goal of improving the season. In his view, the decision came from leaders who spent freely for years and are now facing debt.

What are Pate’s expansion ‘lies’?

NEW: Florida has canceled its home-and-home series with Notre Dame in 2031 and 2032, @Brett_McMurphy reports. https://t.co/vKMdHd5nOe pic.twitter.com/lBmb4sn7mf
— On3 (@On3) November 10, 2026

Pate listed five claims he considers false. The first is that a bigger field will push teams to schedule tougher opponents. Hours after his show was announced, Florida canceled its 2031-32 home-and-home with Notre Dame.

“Why would you ever schedule tougher?” Pate said. “What are they going to do? Drop you out of the top 24?”

He also rejected the idea that playoff games simply replace meaningless bowl games. “Playoff games are sucking value off of regular season games,” he said.

Pate believes the Group of Six conferences lose the most. The new format guarantees one spot to the highest-ranked team from those six leagues. It also requires power conference teams to play 10 games against power conference opponents, which Pate expects will remove the nonconference games those schools rely on to build their resumes.

“It slams the door in your face,” Pate said. “If you’re smart, you’ll start exploring a Group of Six playoff today.”

He also pushed back on blaming ESPN, saying the network preferred a 12-team field and paid to keep the expanded event off the open market. Instead, he pointed to the coaches, who backed a 24-team format through the American Football Coaches Association.

“Coaches pushed for this by way of their athletic directors, by way of their presidents, by way of their conference commissioners,” Pate said.

Conference model on verge of collapse

The College Football Playoff logo is painted in the endzone prior to the Cotton Bowl | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Pate said a 12-team field struck the right balance because teams can survive two losses but rarely three. He predicted the 24-team field will fail, and he expects the sport’s power structure to shift with it.

“The most important thing to know right now is the conference model is probably on the verge of collapse over the next five or so years,” Pate said.

He explained that ESPN and Fox sign media rights deals with conferences rather than individual schools. Pate expects new money and new platforms to change that, opening the door for programs to pursue the full independence Notre Dame already has.

“You’re probably witnessing a death rattle here,” Pate said. “Not of the sport. The sport will be fine.”

The 2026 playoff remains a 12-team field, and this season’s Power 4 conference championship games will be the last under the current format.

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