Miami QB Cam Ward sees College Football Playoff 'sweet spot' between 16, 24 teams

Speaking ahead of Saturday’s Heisman Trophy ceremony, Miami quarterback Cam Ward spoke about how many teams he thinks should be in the College Football Playoff. He thinks the “sweet spot” is between 16 and 24 teams.

Ward played in a 24-team playoff in the early part of his career. He started at Incarnate Word before transferring to Washington State, and the Cardinals made it to the second round before falling to Sam Houston State.

Following two years at Wazzu, Ward took his talents to Miami, which just missed out on the CFP this year. He previously spoke about the decision to leave the Hurricanes out of the 12-team field, and on Saturday, said he’d like to see the bracket look more like what he saw at the FCS level.

Miami quarterback Cam Ward said he thinks the sweet spot for the College Football Playoff would be between 16-24, more like the FCS postseason.

Ward played in the FCS playoffs in 2021 with Incarnate Word.

— Ralph D. Russo (@ralphDrussoATH) December 14, 2024

This year is the first of the 12-team College Football Playoff after a decade with a four-team format. Under the new model, the five highest-ranked conference champions make the field, and the four highest-ranked receive byes. The next seven highest-ranked teams from there round things out.

However, in the spring, there were rumors about further expansion when the current CFP deal expires in 2026. The 10 conferences and Notre Dame agreed to a new contract, which perhaps signaled a 14-team model as a result – the five highest-ranked conference champions and the next nine highest-ranked teams.

There were multiple pieces to figure out with the new agreement, though, beyond the amount of teams in the field. One was media rights, and ESPN is re-upping its deal with the CFP. The other involved a new revenue model.

Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger reported the Big Ten and SEC were proposing a model that would allow them to receive a bigger slice of the pie. The Big Ten and SEC would each receive 29% of the base revenue, while the Big 12 and ACC get 17.1% and 14.7%, respectively. That leaves 9% left for the G5 conferences, 1% for Notre Dame and less than 1% for UConn, Oregon State and Washington State.

ESPN’s Heather Dinich also said there were questions about the Group of 5 conferences’ position in the negotiations. However, they made one thing clear. They didn’t want to be left out.

“It’s like the Godfather’s offer you can’t refuse,” a G5 athletic director told Dinich at the time.