Potential further College Football Playoff expansion has dominated social media discussions in recent weeks, and the same held at the Big Ten spring meetings in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, over the weekend.
According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, the idea of expanding the CFP to 24 teams — which the Big Ten as a whole is advocating for — maintains consensus support from the league’s 18 coaches. Minnesota coach PJ Fleck said that all 18 coaches are in favor of expanding to 24 teams, citing more meaningful games in November.
“It’s got tremendous steam and power behind it,” Fleck said, per Thamel, “especially from the 18 head coaches in the Big Ten. When you do a lot of things that everybody’s 18-for-18 for what we should do, I think it speaks volumes.”
An expanded CFP would necessitate changes to the college football calendar. Moving to a 24-team postseason would almost certainly result in the elimination of both Week 0 and conference title games, with the season both starting and ending earlier.
That’s an idea that Ohio State coach Ryan Day said he favors.
“The season needs to be pushed up,” Day said. “We need to finish the season much sooner. Let’s have this all done by the first week in January so we have a season that makes sense.”
The Big Ten isn’t the only league pushing for a 24-team CFP. Last week, both the Big 12 and ACC joined the conference in voicing their support for further playoff expansion. Currently, the SEC is the thorn in the side as the league favors 16 teams — a position commissioner Greg Sankey reiterated last week.
Questions of CFP expansion will certainly loom large when the SEC coaches descend on Destin, Florida, next week for the league’s own spring meetings.
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This article originally appeared on College Sports Wire: Big Ten coaches support 24-team CFP at league’s spring meetings
