ESPN’s Dinich says CFB Fans Will ‘Love’ 12-Team Playoff
By: Staff Report May 31, 2024

The four-team College Football Playoff era is behind us, and the 12-team playoff is set to begin in the upcoming season.

Ahead of the inaugural season of the expanded playoff field, Heather Dinich, ESPN’s lead College Football Playoff insider, joined Jimmy Hyams of 99.1 The Sports Animal and shared some thoughts on the 12-team playoff.

It will open up the door for more late-season contenders than the four-team playoff allowed for, and that’s something Dinich likes about the 12-team field – and she thinks fans will, too.

“I think it’s going to generate a lot of interest,” Dinich said. “I think we’re all going to be talking about more teams than ever deep into November, and I think college football fans are going to love it, and teams are going to love it because there’s a hope now that wasn’t there before for a lot of programs that were fringe contenders.”

Does Dinich like that the field has expanded to 12 teams, or does she think eight teams would have been a better number?

“I have no problem with 12 because I think that it opens the door for more teams to have a chance, and when you look back at the history of the CFP rankings, there are a lot of good teams that would’ve just been fun matchups to see quite frankly,” Dinich said. “I mean, a USC versus an Ohio State, or a K-State versus, insert your team here, Tennessee, right. Whatever it is, it makes it more fun for college football fans.”

The 12-team playoff format for 2024 will include the five highest-ranked conference champions, plus the next seven highest-ranked teams as determined by the selection committee.

Under the 12-team playoff format, the four highest-ranked conference champions will be seeded one through four and each will receive a first-round bye, while teams seeded five through 12 will play each other in the first round on the home field of the higher-ranked team. (The team ranked #5 will host #12; team #6 will meet team #11; team #7 will play team #10; and team #8 will meet #9.) The quarterfinals and semifinals will be played in the New Year’s Six bowl games, and the national championship game will continue to be at a neutral site. No conference will qualify automatically and there will be no limit on the number of participants from a conference.

You can hear more of Dinich’s thoughts on the 12-team playoff below:

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