The world of college football seems like it is always in a time of change, whether it is the transfer portal, NIL, or expanding the College Football Playoff. After expanding to 12 teams back in 2024, there has been steady talk about another expansion, but the question comes down to the number.
It all started with a smaller expansion to 16 teams, growing by just another four teams, but now the talk has grown even larger, talking about expanding to 24 teams. Many conferences and teams are for this expansion, as it gives more teams a chance to compete for a title. Teams like Miami, which was the last non-conference champion to make it, but made it all the way to the National Championship.
An expansion would allow more teams a larger margin of error, but it could also send college football into more of an NFL-style of thinking. For ESPN anchor Mike Greenberg, he certainly does love what an expansion could mean for college football, using Michigan and Ohio State's rivalry as a way to prove his point.
Miek Greenberg feels a CFP expansion could ruin the best parts of The Game
The rivalry between Michigan and Ohio State is the biggest game of the year for both teams, no matter how well they have done in the season. This is the game where everything is on the line, and fans come out in full force.
Seeing the two teams fight and claw and even brawl at times is what makes college football and its rivalries so amazing and Mike Greenberg would hate to see that go away. Greenberg is very much against the thought of a 24-team CFP expansion, seeing that it could change the way a season is handled.
"If we live in a world where Ohio State and Michigan rest their starters for that game at the end of the season because they've got the potential of five playoff games sitting in front of them, then college football as we have known it ceases to exist," Greenberg said.
What he said. pic.twitter.com/aicRK6SS4b
— Mike Greenberg (@Espngreeny) May 14, 2026
While there are some positives to an expansion, there are negatives as well. College players are used to playing 12, potentially 13 to 14 games a season, and are not accustomed to playing as many as 18+ games like NFL players. With an expanded CFP, that would mean a lot more postseason games, and if teams are locked into the CFP, they could choose to rest their starters as the NFL does.
When an NFL team knows its spot in the playoffs is locked in with the seeding and everything, they tend to rest their starters so as not to risk injury and allow them to be fresh for the playoffs. College teams could turn to that thinking with the potential of a lot more playoff games in an expanded playoff.
That would mean big rivalry games like The Game between Michigan and Ohio State could lose the fierceness of the matchup, especially if starters aren't in. Realistically, would Michigan and Ohio State actually rest their starters for that game? Probably not with how big a rivalry it is, but Greenberg makes a compelling point.
College football rivalries are a big part of the sport and make it what it is. College football is not the NFL, where rivals play each other twice a season. There is one rivalry game where one teams ge the glory of winning and celebrates it for an entire year.
The thought of an expansion is growing in favor, and who knows when it could get put into play, but Greenberg makes a point of not wanting to lose what makes college football so great. The Big Ten, ACC, and Big 12 are in favor of expansion, leaving it all to the SEC for a decision.
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