Booger McFarland slams 24-team College Football Playoff as ‘participation trophy’
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The exponentially expanded 24-team College Football Playoff is inching ever closer to becoming a reality. Btu the idea is getting opposition from all over the sport as ESPN analyst Booger McFarland was the latest to voice his displeasure and skepticism.
The latest step forward towards CFP expansion came this week when Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti spoke with reporters at the conference’s spring meetings at a lush California resort. Pettiti said that while he favors the 24-team model that the Big Ten has pushed for months, he is also firmly opposed to the 16-team model preferred by the SEC.
Petitti’s reasoning is clear. He feels as if the 24-team version will keep more teams and fanbases relevant and invested throughout the season. He also opposes the 16-team model because it would get rid of conference championship games without creating significant enough postseason inventory to compensate for the losses.
Of course, not many folks around the sport agree as it would also greatly dilute the importance and value of the greatest regular season in sports. And in an appearance on SportsCenter, Booger McFarland even pulled out the criticism that it would be akin to a participation trophy because of all the teams that would be involved.
“To me, 24 would be the equivalent of giving everybody a participation trophy, and I don’t think college football needs that.”@ESPNBooger reacts to the Big Ten wanting a 24-team CFP
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) May 20, 2026
“I definitely don’t want 24,” McFarland said. “I just think it’s too much. Once you get to 24, we’re going to have teams that are 8-4, maybe 7-5 make the postseason. That’s no way to crown a champion. College football should be hard, which is why I was ok with four, then I saw what happened with 12. 12 with the on-campus games, it just took college football to a new level to play playoff games on your home campus.”
“I think going to 16, doing away with the byes, I think that’s the way to go. It will be a round number. But in no way, shape, or form do we need 24. To me, 24 will be the equivalent of giving everybody a trophy, a participation trophy. And I don’t think college football needs that. That’s not what made our games one of the most special games in our country, that being college football.”
Of course the elephant in the room is that McFarland works for ESPN, who stands to benefit from limiting playoff expansion. ESPN has lobbied against that as they have exclusive rights for the moment and chooses to license games to TNT Sports. Fox Sports (and the Big Ten) have lobbied for playoff expansion, not just to get more of their teams in the field, but to have the opportunity to get playoff games on their network.
It’s no coincidence that ESPN and the SEC are on the same page as are Fox Sports and the Big Ten. But to be fair to Booger McFarland, he’s probably not taking his marching orders from new Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro on this one. If you polled most college football fans, they would overwhelmingly come down on the side of preserving the sanctity of the college football regular season as much as possible.
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