Josh Heupel's CFP format preference benefits Michigan, Kyle Whittingham tremendously

Since the College Football Playoff first came into being in the 2014-15 college football season, Michigan has made the field three times, including winning the 2023 national championship. As far as the Tennessee Volunteers are concerned, they have only made it once, and got smoked in their No. 8 vs. No. 9 first-round game at the Ohio State Buckeyes two postseasons ago. Let it sink for a second...

So when Josh Heupel was asked about more playoff expansion, he shared this with On3's Chris Low.

"The way college football is constantly changing, that probably makes the most sense."

His preference for a 24-team playoff just goes to show that he is not the right head coach for them...

That being said, doubling the playoff field from 12 to 24 would actually be to the benefit of not only incoming Michigan head coach Kyle Whittingham, but to the entire Wolverines program as well. It is a floor that did not need to be lowered for Michigan. Over the last two years, Michigan has been just on the outside of making the playoff in the 12-team format. In a 24-team one, they are annual shoo-ins...

Let's unpack this a bit more why this could actually serve Michigan under Whittingham in a big way.

Kyle Whittingham and Michigan should welcome more playoff expansion

Had the 12-team playoff format existed during the bulk of Whittingam's time leading the Utah Utes, he would have made it on multiple occasions. Utah was winning Pac-12 championships before that league effectively lost its accreditation as a power league. Of the handful of programs who have never fielded a playoff team to date, Utah has to be among the most surprising for that very reason.

So follow along with this... If more playoff expansion does coming in the 2027, 2028, or 2029 seasons, that should help Michigan a ton. Right now, the Wolverines are right there around the cut line in many way-too-early offseason playoff projections. This is because for as strong of a first team as Whittingham might have in Ann Arbor, it will be playing one of the hardest schedules in the country.

Even if the Wolverines do beat Ohio State in The Horseshoe, they will still likely need to beat either Oklahoma or Indiana at home, as well as potentially Oregon at Autzen in November. While an 8-4 Michigan team should never make the playoff, a 24-team bracket will have a place for a Michigan team that goes 9-3 amid a brutal schedule. This would be huge for other borderline teams as well.

Ultimately, Whittingham took this job with Michigan because he believed he could have this team in the playoff in short order. He may very well get the team into a 12-teamer at some point in time over the next few years. If the playoff field were to somehow double in size before the end of the decade, at least one Whittingham-led Michigan team would be a shoo-in to make that greatly expanded field.

Of course, we should not be diluting the playoff field for the sake of letting everybody into it either...