Big Picture: Sonny Dykes Endorses 24-Team FCS Model as CFP Expansion Debate Grows
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Before I wrapped up a recent phone conversation with TCU head coach Sonny Dykes, we visited the one of many topics reshaping the sport: Which College Football Playoff format does he actually prefer? Twelve teams? Sixteen? The Big Ten’s floated 24-team model? What I got is one of the rarest commodities in sports journalism: a straight answer. "I like the FCS model," Dykes told me, referring to the Football Championship Subdivision, the NCAA's second tier of Division I football. "Why in the world are we having conference championship games if they tell us conference championship games don’t matter? Why in the world would we have a game in December that doesn’t matter?" No hedging. No coach-speak. Just a head coach publicly questioning the logic of the sport’s postseason structure. And it’s a structure that’s already gaining momentum. When Dykes led TCU to the national title game in the 2022 season, 131 teams competed at the FBS level. This fall, there will be 138. The number of teams playing FBS football keeps expanding — and so does the pressure to expand the College Football Playoff, again, barely a decade after its 2014 debut. The question is no longer whether the field will grow. It’s how big it will get, and who gets to decide? Neither the Big Ten nor the SEC — the two conferences with the most voting power to extend the field — is opposed to expansion. They just don’t agree on how many teams should be included or the formula for entry. And recent history shows why that disagreement matters. Three years ago, Dykes led TCU to the four-team CFP, despite a loss in the Big 12 championship game. A year later, Florida State went 13–0, won the ACC title and was, controversially, left out of the four-team field entirely. [LET'S DEBATE: What to Keep and Change in the CFP Format] By 2025, the disconnect had only widened: ACC champion Duke did not receive an invitation to the CFP, while Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Miami, Oregon and Ole Miss received invitations without even qu
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- No Data Available - BROWSE BY SPORTS & TEAMS PLAYERS SHOWS PERSONALITIES TOPICS Built on College Football College Football Big Picture: Sonny Dykes Endorses 24-Team FCS Model as CFP Expansion Debate Grows Published Mar. 4, 2026 1:00 p.m. ET share facebook x reddit link RJ Young FOX Sports National College Football Analyst Before I wrapped up a recent phone conversation with TCU head coach Sonny Dykes, we visited the one of many topics reshaping the sport: Which College Football Playoff format does he actually prefer? Twelve teams? Sixteen? The Big Ten ’s floated 24-team model ? What I got is one of the rarest commodities in sports journalism: a straight answer. "I like the FCS model," Dykes told me, referring to the Football Championship Subdivision, the NCAA's second tier of Division I football. "Why in the world are we having conference championship games if they tell us conference championship games don’t matter? Why in the world would we have a game in December that doesn’t matter?" No hedging. No coach-speak. Just a head coach publicly questioning the logic of the sport’s postseason structure. And it’s a structure that’s already gaining momentum. When Dykes led TCU to the national title game in the 2022 season, 131 teams competed at the FBS level. This fall, there will be 138. The number of teams playing FBS football keeps expanding — and so does the pressure to expand the College Football Playoff, again, barely a decade after its 2014 debut. The question is no longer whether the field will grow. It’s how big it will get, and who gets to decide? Neither the Big Ten nor the SEC — the two conferences with the most voting power to extend the field — is opposed to expansion. They just don’t agree on how many teams should be included or the formula for entry. And recent history shows why that disagreement matters. Three years ago, Dykes led TCU to the four-team CFP, despite a loss in the Big 12 championship game. A year later, Florida State went 13–0, won the ACC ...
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