Yesterday, Michigan’s least favorite reporter Pete Thamel broke the news that the College Football Playoff (CFP) would soon be expanding to 24 teams for the 2027 season and beyond.
The general consensus of the college football world is this is an atrocious idea proposed by
money-hungry TV executives. I don’t disagree, but that’s not the point of today’s discussion.
Today’s question is this: how do you think CFP expansion will impact the Michigan football program, specifically, in 2027 and beyond?
Next year was supposed to be a championship-caliber team in Ann Arbor, with Bryce Underwood being in his final valiant year before leaving early for the NFL Draft. That doesn’t appear to be the case given the way the 2026 season has gone. Whether Underwood is even the starting quarterback at Michigan next season is certainly up for debate. However, the roster is still likely to be very good in 2027 with or without him.
With the obvious caveat that roster turnover runs rampant in college football at every program, Michigan should be in the 24-team playoff field in 2027. It would be an abject disaster if Kyle Whittingham couldn’t get the Wolverines in the top-24 of the sport in Year 2 of his tenure. The Wolverines are also a fairly young roster this season — assuming they are able to retain some of the young pieces like Savion Hiter, Andrew Marsh, Tariq Boney, Carter Meadows and others, Michigan can and should be a CFP team.
The new format essentially guarantees Big Ten and SEC schools with three or fewer losses will make the CFP. There may even be rare occasions where four-loss teams make it. A program of Michigan’s caliber with the athletes the Wolverines are able to recruit should nearly always be in the discussion. Anything less is a failure.
As evidence, the 2025 Wolverines would have made a 24-team CFP field. In case you don’t remember, the 2025 Wolverines went 9-3 thanks to an easy schedule, but weren’t competitive in any of their losses and had a coaching staff embroiled in controversy. If that team could make the CFP, nearly every Michigan team should moving forward.
In my opinion, the expectation at Michigan should be the Wolverines not only make the CFP every year, but they at least host one or more games as well.
But beyond just making or missing the 24-team field, how else will this new format affect Michigan?
For one, it will render the regular season virtually meaningless. I highly doubt blue blood programs will schedule tough non-conference opponents anymore. What is the point when reducing losses is the only incentive? It would not surprise me to see Michigan and Texas cancel their return game in Austin for the 2027 season.
Similarly, I fully believe that traditional rivalries will slowly start to die as time goes by. Michigan’s matchups with Michigan State and Ohio State won’t be nearly as impactful. Specifically, The Game could feature two teams who are clearly already in the CFP field potentially resting players. It would be antithetical to the rivalry, but the motive is less and less clear depending on the year.
In the comments below, let us know your thoughts on how CFP expansion will affect Michigan specifically. I don’t expect anyone to fully defend the expansion, but I’m curious how you think expansion will affect the Wolverines both on and off the field. Will the regular season completely die? What will happen to The Game over time? Should the Wolverines make the 24-team field every single year? Feel free to vent below.
