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By Rowan Fisher-Shotton
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The College Football Playoff is set to double in size, with a new 24-team format potentially debuting in 2027.
Recent reports indicated that the CFP and ESPN had reached a preliminary understanding, but the two sides are still working out the official details and final agreement. The current 12-team format remains in place for the 2026 season.
The majority of college football fans are adamantly against it, believing that expansion could make regular-season games less meaningful, give teams more room for losses without missing the playoff, and put money ahead of tradition. There are also questions about whether conference championship games could disappear entirely and what impact a longer season might have on players from an injury standpoint.
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LSU head coach Lane Kiffin recently appeared on the "Brandon Walker College Football Show" and made his stance on a 24-team CFP very clear.
"I think it had to happen," Kiffin said. "You could say 12 is better, but not when you take into account the way college football is set up now. The conferences are so different, the four conferences. They are. They're different stadiums, they're different environments, they're different middle to bottom of them. So, you're not playing equal schedules, they're not even close.
"If you took an SEC team and gave them another one of those conference's schedules, they'd average two more wins. Well, that's a big deal. So, I say all that to say you had to go to more teams because the system's broke in how they pick them. And that's nothing against the committee. Humans can't see football for whatever reason because it's been this way for so long. It's all about 12 wins, 11, 10, or 9. Those mean you're this. And we can't unsee that, where other sports do.
"Basketball totally unsees it," Kiffin added. "You look at the seeding every year, and there are teams with four more losses that are above other teams in seeding because they've figured out it's not just about the wins and losses. How did you win them? How did you lose them? Where did you play? Did you play on the road? All the things that go into it."
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Kiffin's comments come at an important time for LSU. The Tigers are 6-2 overall and 3-2 in SEC play after bouncing back from a 32-24 loss against Ole Miss and a heartbreaking 35-34 overtime loss to Kentucky. LSU is now riding a two-game winning streak with victories over Mississippi State and Auburn and currently sits at No. 15 in the AP Top 25, with their next matchup against No. 10 Alabama on Nov. 7 being crucial for the Tigers' chances of making the CFP.
However, to Kiffin's point, context matters. Both of LSU's losses this season came in tough road environments against teams that are now ranked inside the AP Top 25: The Wildcats at No. 9 and the Rebels at No. 12. LSU also recently dominated Auburn 38-17 on the road, and Auburn had just beaten then-No. 1 Georgia the week prior.
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LSU now faces a challenging finish, starting with Alabama at home followed by No. 11 Texas back in Death Valley, Tennessee on the road, and then traveling to Arkansas. Winning at least three of those four games would put LSU at 9-3 overall and give them a fairly strong case to make the CFP.
That being said, under the current 12-team format, there's still no guarantee a three-loss LSU team makes the playoff. A 24-team field, however, would give the Tigers considerably more breathing room.
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