Steve Sarkisian on College Football Playoff expansion debate: 'I'd rather go back to four'

The future of the College Football Playoff remains a contentious topic among most college football fans, even as Power Four power brokers continue to push for further expansion just three years into a highly-popular 12-team format.

But while the ongoing national debate centers around the Big Ten’s 24-team proposal or the SEC’s 16-team option, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian is pining for the good old days of the four-team CFP.

“I think there’s so many factors. I’ve gone on record saying I’d rather go back to four. Here’s my issue: I understand why people want to go to 24, but we are now in a world where fanbases are living under this umbrella of playoff-or-bust,” Sarkisian said Thursday during an appearance at the NFF’s Houston Touchdown Club luncheon, via Inside Texas‘ Evan Vieth. “I don’t agree with that, that’s not true. You had the opportunity to compete for a national championship during those 12 regular season games, and I felt like when we were at four teams, those four teams were held in very high regard, and you earned your opportunity to be one of those four teams.”

The College Football Playoff began as a four-team field in 2014 and stayed that way for a decade before expanding to its current 12-team format in 2024. Now, just two years in, there’s already a strong push to expand the field once again, with the SEC proposing a 16-team format and the rest of the Power Four conferences coalescing around the Big Ten’s 24-team proposal.

Last month, the White House presidential committee dedicated to fixing college sports even joined the fray, signaling a national “coalescing” around potentially doubling the CFP’s current 12-team model. Last week, the ACC became the third Power Four league to publicly support a 24-team Playoff, following similar moves by the Big 12 and the Big Ten.

Since then, prominent ESPN figures Rece Davis, Paul Finebaum, and Mike Greenberg have joined others in publicly pushing back against the 24-team field proposal. Davis called it “preposterous,” while Finebaum and Greenberg agreed it would severely “devalue, dilute” the regular season and make “college football as we have known it ceases to exist.”

Texas has made the CFP field twice during Sarkisian’s first five seasons in Austin, the first appearance coming in 2023 as the No. 3 seed in the Longhorns’ final season apart of the Big 12. Texas also made the inaugural 12-team field in 2024, advancing to the CFP semifinals as the No. 3 seed during its first season in the SEC. But after missing out last year, the ‘Horns are widely projected among the preseason national championship favorites in 2026, especially with superstar QB Arch Manning leading a loaded lineup.

Despite that reality, Sarkisian remains among the minority calling for a return to the 4-team format. As evident by the intense debate around future expansion, the College Football Playoff is never going back.