Mario Cristobal reveals the CFP plan he supports for the future of college football

Mario Cristobal is not lining up with the latest push to make the College Football Playoff much bigger. His answer to college football's postseason debate is simple: protect the regular season, avoid a 24-team CFP and move the calendar up so the sport does not drag so deep into January.

Mario Cristobal pushes back on 24 team CFP

Cristobal made his position clear during an appearance on This Is Football, pushing back on the idea of expanding the playoff to 24 teams.

"I'm not for the 24-team thing. I think that’s just a lot. Like, why play a regular season then? And I'm certainly not for automatic bids."

Mario Cristobal

That take puts the Miami coach in a different spot than many of the power brokers currently shaping the sport's future. ACC coaches and athletic directors voiced support for a 24-team playoff during the spring meetings outside Jacksonville, while ACC commissioner Jim Phillips has publicly backed the idea. The Big 12 also supports a 24-team model, while the SEC has continued to lean toward a smaller 16-team expansion. Regardless, expansion seems to be the prevailing direction.

A 24-team field would create more access for programs, but it would also change the meaning of the regular season. In a sport built on stakes, rivalry games and late-season pressure, a field as large as 24 teams could cause some games lose importance. For Cristobal, that is central to his argument against the idea of playoff expansion.

College football's regular season has long been its best product. Every Saturday feels like it can change a season because the margin for error is smaller than in most major American sports.

A 24-team playoff would almost certainly lower the stakes in the regular season.

But, some see the tradeoff it would present as a positive. More access means more teams stay alive. Some games late in November feel meaningless right now, even if both teams are talented. The playoff proposal would offer a solution to the games that feel like they "deserve" consequence late in the year.

Establishing the happy medium of competitive football late in the year and making every game count is really the heart of this entire debate. And for Cristobal, moving to a 24-team CFP would swing the pendulum too far.

Mario Cristobal is against the automatic bids

The current 12-team format includes the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC champions, the highest-ranked Group of Six team and the next seven highest-ranked teams. Notre Dame is also included if it finishes in the top 12 of the final rankings. The four highest-ranked teams receive first-round byes, and seeds 5 through 12 play first-round games hosted by the higher seed.

Cristobal would opt for a playoff without that.

Cristobal agrees that the football calendar needs to change

"Just move everything up," Cristobal said. "Just finish as early as possible in January so there's time for you to put together a team. Have one bye week and let's roll."

The expanded playoff has stretched the season deeper into January. The 2025-26 CFP had first-round games on Dec. 19 and Dec. 20, quarterfinals around New Year's, semifinals on Jan. 8 and Jan. 9, and the national championship on Jan. 19.

Coaches are trying to finish a season, manage bowl or playoff prep, recruit high school players, monitor the portal, retain their own roster and start planning for the next year. That really only hurts the players and coaches.

The American Football Coaches Association has also pushed for a postseason calendar that ends earlier. The AFCA backed recommendations that included eliminating conference championship games, preserving Army-Navy's exclusive window, holding other games that day and ending the playoff by the second week of January.

The difference is that the AFCA's recommendations have been tied to a larger playoff. Cristobal wants the sport to move faster without turning the postseason into something massive. Unfortunately for Cristobal, if he wants some of those changes, it looks like they will come with an expanded CFP.

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