College football coaches, via the American Football Coaches Association, planted their flag into the ground on May 5 with four proposed rules changes, highlighted by a clear recommendation: They want a 24-team playoff.
“As we modernize our game to better serve student athletes, we have fallen short in structuring a season that concludes in a timely and sustainable way,” the AFCA said.
The AFCA voted to recommend a playoff with the “maximum number” of teams, which means 24 teams. Until that bracket, Nos. 9-24 would play first-round games at the higher seed and the winners would play on the road at Nos. 1-8.
The full proposals:
1. Eliminate conference championship games, which would allow for a 24-team playoff.
Comment: Eliminating conference championship games is a no-brainer even in a 16-team playoff.
My Plan A is playing the first round of the playoff on the first weekend of December. The issue is, as usual, money. Conference title games have a combined nine-figure value, which helps sustain non-revenue sports.
No conference title games would pave the way for a 24-team playoff.
The coaches’ motivation for a 24-team playoff is simple. “Hey, Mr. Athletic Director and Mr. School President, my team went 8-4 but we made the playoff and I shouldn’t be canned.”
A 24-team playoff would dilute the bowl system even more if not make it obsolete.
2. Reduce scheduled bye weeks from two to one.
Comment: Another no-brainer, playing 12 regular-season games over a 13-week span.
3. Preserve a dedicated kickoff window for Army-Navy game while allowing the option for other games to be played on that day.
Comment: Army-Navy deserves a solo stage and I would place it on the day after Thanksgiving at 3:30 p.m.
4. Reduce the minimum number of days between games to no fewer than six.
Comment: Yes. No more Thursday games for teams who played the previous Saturday.
During the NFL season, college football should avoid playing any games on Thursday night and I know they’re not going away because it represents television inventory, but I hate college games on Friday nights. Friday nights in this country should be completely reserved for high school football.
Walk Off Charities milestone
Walk Off Charities celebrated a huge milestone on May 8 by providing a free baseball glove and clinic to 10,000 Jacksonville area youths.
The charity, founded in 2017 by former Times-Union sports writer and current 1010AM host and Jacksonville Jaguars play-by-play announcer Frank Frangie, welcomed more than 200 kids to Fort Family Regional Park off Baymeadows Road. Kids received their gloves and were led through eight stations.
“We did this nine years ago and it grows every year and every time we come out here and you see kids get their baseball gloves — and a lot of these kids have never had a glove — it gets a little emotional for me,” Frangie said. “Special day.”
Frangie’s first-ever baseball glove when he was growing up in Jacksonville?
“I was 8 years old,” he said. “My dad (Frank Sr.) said the budget was $10 and I got a glove from a place called J.M. Fields for $2.95 plus tax and I was able to get a wood Adirondack bat with it. It was gold. The bat broke a year later, but I used the glove until I was 10.”
Extra points
1. Florida State-Georgia cancel series: The ripple effect of nine-game conference football seasons was felt on May 7 when Florida State and Georgia cancelled their home-and-home series for 2027-28. The schools will explore playing a neutral site game.
Moving to nine conference games means three (not four) non-league games and dropping a Power Four opponent makes more sense than dropping a Group of Five or FCS opponent.
Florida State’s non-league schedule is now wide open save for its annual game against Florida. The Seminoles have East Tennessee State in 2027 and nothing else on the docket except for Notre Dame in 2029 and 2032 as a part of the ACC’s scheduling arrangement with the Irish.
2. Quirky MLB statistic: Through the games of May 7, eight National League teams are over .500, but only four American League teams.
The Athletics (used to be in Oakland, currently in Sacramento and eventually in Las Vegas) and Cleveland Guardians led their divisions despite being only one game .500. Compare that to the Cincinnati Reds, who were 20-18 … and in the NL Central cellar, six games behind the Chicago Cubs.
3. This and that: If I’m advising Billy Donovan, and he hasn’t called yet, my preferred route for him would not be taking the Orlando Magic’s head coaching job and instead waiting to see what Kentucky’s new, to-be-determined athletic director thinks of Mark Pope after the 2026-27 season. … PGA Championship pick for next weekend in Pennsylvania: Matt Fitzpatrick. … Jacksonville native Carson Beck will wear No. 19 for the Arizona Cardinals. He wore No. 15 at Georgia, but Gardner Minshew took that number with the Cardinals, and No. 11 at Miami, but that number is out of service in Arizona (receiver Larry Fitzgerald, who is entering the Pro Football Hall of Fame this summer). … Only the NFL would send out an email from a sender named “NFL Schedule Release,” to merely say, “Schedule release is almost here.” Until you have an official date, leave me alone. … Ted Turner, who died on May 6, is the reason this kid from North Dakota knew everything about the Atlanta Braves in the 1980s because the WTBS “Superstation” was beamed nationwide. A true media visionary. … Is there any worse sports television creation than wearing a hoodie under a suit coat? … Congratulations to Tammie Talley, director of athletics for the Duval County Public Schools, on being named to the eight-person Florida High School Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2026. Talley will also soon be inducted to the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Contact O’Halloran at rohalloran@gannett.com or on X at @ryanohalloran. Listen to Ryan on 1010AM for segments every Tuesday (6:35 p.m. on “Into The Night) and Thursday (1:15 p.m. in “XL Primetime”), a new two-hour show every Friday (“The Lead,” from 4-6 p.m.) and Wednesdays on X (3:20 p.m. on “Duval Rundown”).
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Coaches getting 24-team College Football Playoff inevitable, foolish
Reporting by Ryan O’Halloran, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
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