Sumrall, Florida Embrace New College Football Scheduling, Playoff Field Amid Changes
Florida has all-but-certainly fallen short of the 2026 College Football Playoff despite a 4-0 start, suffering a 23-7 home defeat to Oklahoma on Saturday to drop its fourth game in its last five contests.
While the Gators’ resume (5-4, 3-4 SEC) is nothing special in the grand scheme of college football this season, that could change as the sport evolves again in 2027.
The College Football Playoff field will expand to 24 teams next season following a $1.7 billion deal announced Monday that readjusts the broadcast rights, giving ESPN exclusive worldwide media rights to the expanded postseason. The new format was passed through unanimously by the 11-person CFP management committee, changing the playoff field again just three years after it was expanded from four teams to 12 teams for the 2024 season.
The 24-team bracket will include 19 at-large bids, the Power 4 conference regular season champions as determined by each league and the highest-ranked Group of 6 team. The top-third of playoff teams will get a week off, as the eight highest-ranked teams receive a first-round bye under the new system.
The decision to expand the playoff for the second time in three years draws much ire from fans, with many citing the higher possibility of three- and four-loss teams reaching the playoff as a significant lowering of the intensity within the sport. While many see the doubling of the field as an attempt to net extra money, CFP executive director Rich Clark sees it from a different perspective and reassures the decision was made with fans in mind.
“We’re aware of the fan sentiment and that many fans aren’t in favor of expansion, but that was certainly weighed into the decision and it was considered,” Clark said. “But ultimately, we just need to make a spectacular playoff. The CFP has a responsibility to our fans. They’re the lifeblood of college football, and we [owe] it to them to make this great, and that really is our intent. We appreciate our fans. We did take into account their sentiment, and that was rolled into this decision, but we decided to move forward with it.”
The changes not only shake up the landscape of college football on a national scale, but also affects what each season looks like for Florida. Most significantly, conference championships have been eliminated in the new structure, meaning the Gators’ last SEC Championship Game win is officially 2008.
As it pertains to 2026 and beyond, Florida coach Jon Sumrall thinks the dismissal of the conference’s championship game could change how teams attack scheduling their nine, annual SEC games.
With two byes and a Week 0 start introduced, the first-year coach and Florida football general manager Dave Caldwell believe that some Power 4 schools might attempt to adopt an NFL mindset. With how grueling an 18-week season is in the professional sphere, teams often opt to rest players for the playoffs in the final games of the regular season, a mentality that may become reality in college football too.
“When you’re playing a rivalry game at the end, no, I don’t think so. But if somebody ever made it to where their schedule, like, say Game 12 they made their FCS game, some people might start doing some of that kind of stuff as it goes to 24 [teams],” Sumrall said Monday. “I think your scheduling format does maybe change a little bit in how you’d like to play some non-conference games throughout the year and maybe not just two front-loaded and one on the backend.”
Sumrall, a proponent of the 24-team playoff because of the access it provides for teams, does not feel the NFL comparisons end there.
In the age of the four-team playoff that was utilized from 2014 to 2023, teams would likely need to go undefeated or finish the 12-game season with only one loss. As the perceived standard to reach the playoff has adjusted due to the 20 extra teams that make it, Sumrall sees the change as a correlation to the evolution of strength within the SEC and the other Power 4 conferences.
“Nine-and-three in the SEC is almost, in a weird way, what 11-1 used to be. This is NFL-ish now,” Sumrall said. “The world we have created, you look across our league. Georgia loses to Auburn, we go on the road and beat Texas, and we’re not fully ready for prime time to be like a top-four team in the country right now.”
While the jarring transformation will certainly take getting used to for programs and those who support them alike, accepting the changes as commonplace will set in. The season draws longer under the new system, but provides a greater opportunity for more parity and shocking results that liven up a season like they have this year.
The 24-team field is here to stay in college football, and those teams that adjust to the expanded playoff by finding ways to stay healthy amid the extra games will benefit the most from it. Sumrall and Florida hope to be a part of that group and bring a fourth national championship to Gainesville in the newest age of college football.
“This league, week in, week out, the attrition on the health of your roster, the bumps and bruises you get, the competitiveness of every Saturday, I think what 9-3 has become in this conference because of the way we’ve made this schedule and we all have a P4 game on top of it,” Sumrall said. “I’m for the 24-team deal because of that.”
Category: College Football, Feature Sports News, Gator Sports, Gators Football
