Nick Saban believes the College Football Playoff should not grow to 24 teams, arguing that the sport would lose too much if the proposed expansion goes ahead. Tim Tebow delivered a similar warning on Saturday morning, saying the change would dilute what makes college football different in the first place.
The debate comes as the College Football Playoff is being discussed as a possible move from 12 teams to 24 teams. That would be a major shift in how postseason access is decided, and both Saban and Tebow made clear they do not think more is automatically better.
Saban spoke on 's College GameDay at BYU, while Tebow offered his view on the SEC Network. Their comments added weight to a discussion that already goes well beyond bracket size. It affects the regular season, bowl games and the value of conference championships.
Saban: not enough teams deserve a spot
Saban's central argument was blunt. As he put it, “People want to see the best teams in the Playoffs.”
He went further than that, saying there are not 24 teams in the country that deserve a playoff place. He also said, “I don't think there's 24 teams in the country that can win the championship.”
That matters because the former Alabama head coach is not just questioning the mechanics of expansion. He is questioning whether the sport would still be preserving the standard that makes the College Football Playoff meaningful.
Saban also warned about the knock-on effects. “Bowl games are gonna be a thing of the past,” he said, adding, “We're gaining something but we're also giving something up.”
One of the biggest changes he pointed to was the conference structure. “There's gonna be no SEC Championship Game now,” Saban said, suggesting the proposed format would alter more than the playoff field itself.
Tebow: the regular season would lose its edge
Tebow's criticism centered on what the sport would become if teams could afford more early-season mistakes. “We changed the goal posts,” he said, and that was the heart of his complaint.
“Before it was about how consistent can you be throughout the season? Now it's can you just get in and get hot at the right time?” Tebow said. “It takes away the consistency.”
For Tebow, that consistency is not a minor detail. “Before you had to focus every single week and you had to show up and you had to bring your best,” he said. “Now you have weeks where you don't have to show up.”
He went even further in defending the importance of the schedule itself. “One of the biggest reasons why I don't like it, is because when you're looking at this game, there's a few things that separate us: It's the regular season,” Tebow said. “The regular season is so critical.”
His point is simple enough. If more teams are given a route into the postseason, the weeks that used to define a contender may matter a little less.
What changes if the playoff expands?
The main argument against the move is not that the College Football Playoff should never change. It is that the sport could lose some of the scarcity that makes every big Saturday feel important.
Saban and Tebow both framed the issue around value. A larger bracket might create more access, but it could also reduce the importance of the regular season, weaken bowl games and reshape the meaning of conference play.
That is why the conversation is so significant. The College Football Playoff is already the center of the sport’s title chase, and any expansion from 12 teams to 24 teams would reach far beyond the final bracket. It would change how teams are judged all year long.
For now, the debate is still exactly that: a debate. But when Saban says there are not 24 teams worthy of the playoff, and Tebow says the regular season is being diluted, the opposition is coming from two voices that know how much college football can lose when its standards shift.
