Why a 12-team Playoff is good for Ohio State football but bad for the sport

The Ohio State football team has made four College Football Playoffs since its origination in 2014. They’ve done so by either going undefeated or just losing one game in the regular season. They no longer need to be that good to make the CFP once 2026 rolls around though.

That’s because the CFP is officially expanding to 12 teams in 2026. A vote by the Board of Managers has made that happen according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel. There’s still a chance it comes sooner than that, but it’s widely expected to be here in 2026 when the current CFP contract ends.

This is great news for the Ohio State football program. They should never miss another Playoff again. They can lose two games in a season and still get in as an at-large team. If for some reason they didn’t make it, it would be a fireable offense for the coach of that team.

While this may be good for the Buckeyes, it’s bad for the sport of college football at large. While it does give more teams a chance to get into the CFP, it greatly devalues the regular season. We could have a scenario where The Game at the end of the season doesn’t matter in terms of a national scale because both Ohio State and TTUN could both get in with a loss.

To be honest, that would be a tragedy. College football is loved by so many because the regular season matters so much. One loss to the wrong team could kill your season. Now, you might be afforded two or three losses depending on the program and still get into the CFP.

I don’t like the move, but I understand why this is good for Ohio State. The Buckeyes should never miss another CFP once this takes effect, and that’s good for Ohio State football fans all over. And who knows, maybe we’ll get a home playoff game too?