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Sports · North America

SI says 24-team playoff list would include Colorado, Duke and Iowa

Sports Illustrated says a proposed 24-team College Football Playoff format would have included teams such as Colorado, Duke and Iowa, as well as other teams it characterized as among the 24 worst qualifying teams. SI reports that the CFP and ESPN are nearing a deal to expand the field for the 2027 season, citing ESPN's Pete Thamel.

AI-assisted synthesis · Based on 5 outlets' reporting · Article text read from 1 of 5 outletsHow it's made

View timeline · 5 entries
5 outletsLatest reporting 3 min read
Coverage: Center OnlyL 0 · C 4 · R 0 · 1 unrated
Updat3 graphic: SI
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What happened

Key facts

  • Sports Illustrated published a list titled “The 24 Worst Teams That Would Have Made the College Football Playoff in New 24-Team Format” (per Sports Illustrated).
  • Sports Illustrated says a 24-team College Football Playoff would have included Colorado, Duke and Iowa (per Sports Illustrated).
  • Sports Illustrated says the additional teams on its list included North Carolina State, Virginia, USC, Missouri, Northwestern, Virginia Tech, Temple, LSU and Utah (per Sports Illustrated).
  • Sports Illustrated highlighted the 2024 Colorado team, led by Shedeur Sanders and coached by Deion Sanders, as one that would have qualified under the proposed format (per Sports Illustrated).
  • Sports Illustrated said the College Football Playoff and ESPN were nearing a deal to expand the field to 24 teams starting with the 2027 season, citing ESPN's Pete Thamel (per Sports Illustrated).
  • ESPN's headline says the College Football Playoff was nearing a deal for a 24-team format in 2027 (per Sports Illustrated, Yahoo).

The brief

Sports Illustrated says a 24-team College Football Playoff field would have included Colorado, Duke and Iowa, along with other teams it placed among the 24 weakest prospective qualifiers.

The outlet’s list, titled “The 24 Worst Teams That Would Have Made the College Football Playoff in New 24-Team Format,” centers on which programs would enter a larger bracket under the format being discussed. SI also names North Carolina State, Virginia, USC, Missouri, Northwestern, Virginia Tech, Temple, LSU and Utah among the additional teams on its list.

Its example of Colorado is the 2024 team, led by Shedeur Sanders and coached by Deion Sanders, which SI says would have qualified in a 24-team field. The central question in SI’s account is the quality of teams that a larger playoff would admit. The outlet says concern is growing that the format could lower the caliber of teams competing for the national championship.

That is SI’s assessment of the possible effect of expansion; the article does not establish that a larger field would produce that outcome. SI reports that the College Football Playoff and ESPN are nearing an agreement to double the field, with the expanded format beginning in the 2027 season. It attributes that account to ESPN’s Pete Thamel.

ESPN’s headline likewise says a deal for a 24-team format is nearing, while Yahoo Sports’ headline describes the format as starting in 2027. The headlines from 247Sports and A to Z Sports point to other angles on the proposed expansion. 247Sports says it examined how the format would have looked since 2014 through a conference and team-by-team breakdown.

A to Z Sports characterizes the expected move as a serious threat to college football’s regular season. Those headlines do not provide further details about their arguments, while SI’s article focuses on the teams it says would qualify and the concern that the field could include weaker squads. The proposal remains described as nearing a deal in SI’s account.

The reported start date is the 2027 season, and SI’s list supplies a concrete illustration of which teams could be included under the 24-team format. The outlet presents the possible dilution of championship competition as a concern, rather than a confirmed result of an adopted playoff structure.

Why it matters

  • A 24-team field would include teams SI identifies as weaker prospective qualifiers, including Colorado, Duke and Iowa, raising a direct question about the standard for entering the national championship playoff.
  • SI’s example of the 2024 Colorado team, led by Shedeur Sanders and coached by Deion Sanders, shows how the proposed format could affect which teams qualify.
  • The CFP and ESPN are reportedly nearing a deal to expand the field beginning in 2027; the format’s size and start season are the concrete terms highlighted in SI’s account.

What to watch next

  • Whether the College Football Playoff and ESPN complete the reported deal for a 24-team field.
  • Whether the proposed expansion begins with the 2027 season, as SI reports and the ESPN and Yahoo Sports headlines indicate.
  • How the eventual format determines which teams qualify, given SI’s list of programs it says would enter a 24-team bracket.

How it's being covered

Coverage analysisShow details
5 source articles · 5 unique outlets
Outlet political mix: Center Only· 4 Center · 1 unrated
Where the outlets are based: US/Canada 100%
Outlet political mix
Center Only
Left
Center
Right
0 outlets
4 outlets
0 outlets
The marker shows coverage balance: each unique outlet counts once. 1 unrated outlet is not included.
Geography
Where the outlets covering this story are based.
5 unique outletsDominant coverage: US/Canada
Coverage imbalance
  • Coverage is currently concentrated among Center-rated outlets (4 of 4 rated sources); comparatively few Left or Right-rated outlets have published on the event.
  • Coverage is currently concentrated among outlets based in US/Canada (5 of 5 geographically-identified sources).
How we measure coverage

How outlets' accounts compare

Updat3 does not yet have enough full reports to compare how outlets framed this story.

Timeline

Developments from this story's sources, dated background we compiled and fact-checked, and our earlier coverage. Each row says which.
  1. College football leaders agreed to replace the Bowl Championship Series with the College Football Playoff.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  2. The College Football Playoff began with a four-team format, replacing the Bowl Championship Series.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  3. The College Football Playoff management committee announced it would study expanding the tournament beyond four teams.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  4. College Football Playoff commissioners postponed the planned expansion to 12 teams.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  5. The College Football Playoff introduced its 12-team format for the season.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3

How we got here

The College Football Playoff’s 12-team format debuted in the 2024 season, replacing a four-team bracket and making more at-large places available. In June 2021, the CFP management committee proposed a 12-team field, and in September 2022 the playoff’s governing body approved expansion, initially targeting the 2026 season.

In December 2023, commissioners postponed that plan; in February 2024, they agreed to begin the 12-team format in 2024. The four-team playoff itself began in the 2014 season, replacing the Bowl Championship Series, which had determined the national-title matchup from 1998 through 2013.

Original sources

5 articles from 5 outlets · US/Canada · Show all

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