The College Football Playoff is officially expanding to 24 teams, and the question now is whether schools from the Group of 6 conferences will actually benefit from the bigger field. With the expansion confirmed, four loss schools from Power 4 conferences will likely get the chance to play for a national title, but it is unclear how much squads from the Group of 6 with better records will benefit.
Why it matters
The conferences are split. The American, Conference USA and the Sun Belt have mostly supported expansion, while the Mountain West and others are reserving judgment, and the worry is that a bigger field still favours the big brands. A Group of 6 team with one loss could still sit behind a four loss Power 4 team, and the selection committee record gives the smaller conferences little reason to trust the process. The American, Conference USA and the Sun Belt have mostly supported expansion, while the Mountain West and others are reserving judgment on whether it helps them at all.
The timing matters because Week 11 is already a showcase for the smaller schools. ESPN College GameDay is heading to Boise State for a Pac-12 showdown with Oregon State, only the second time the Broncos have hosted the show and the first time GameDay has visited a Group of 6 location since November 2023. Boise State is 8-1 and ranked No. 18 in the coaches poll.
What happens next
The bigger field changes the maths for everyone. More teams means more fan bases with a stake in November, more television inventory, and more arguments about who belongs. It also means the regular season matters a little less, and the committee matters a little more, which is exactly what the Group of 6 fears.
What happens next will be decided by the first expanded bracket and by how many Group of 6 teams make it. If the field includes more than two of them, the expansion will look like a real opening. If it does not, the smaller conferences will have their answer, and the argument will start again. A four loss Power 4 team will likely make the new field, while a one loss Group of 6 team may still sit outside it.
