More College Football Playoff expansion? What you need to know

Richard Clark, a former Air Force linebacker and the new College Football Playoff executive director, opens up on future CFP expansion.

What we know about any future plans to expand the College Football Playoff as it debuts the 12-team format this season. / USA Today Sports | Imagn

Almost as soon as college football expanded its playoff from four teams to 12 in a field that will debut this postseason, there was already credible talk that the format could expand again once the current deal is up after the 2026 season, with speculation that the playoff could swell to 14 teams.

For now, College Football Playoff executive director Richard Clark isn't ready to go there.

"I would not make that assumption, but what we know is that we're going to make this 12-team as spectacular as we absolutely can," Clark said about future expansion.

"And then, in good military fashion after the operation is done, then we're going to hotwash and look back to see what worked and what didn't, especially in the early days."

Hotwash is a military term defined as a quick debrief that happens after an event to assess its successes and failures, and that appears to be what college football's principal decision-makers will do after the first 12-team playoff is complete.

Clark is a recently retired Lieutenant General in the U.S. Air Force who served three combat tours and before then was a four-year letterman playing linebacker for the Academy, including as a senior on its 12-1 team in 1985 when the Falcons placed No. 8 in the final AP poll.

"It's important for us to be open-minded and ask ourselves how we can make it better," Clark added.

"There's a lot of talk about potentials and what could be good, but we need to see how the 12-team playoff goes and make that assessment afterward."

The 12-team playoff will make its debut this postseason, featuring five conference champions from the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC, and the Group of Five, which will receive automatic bids, followed by seven at-large teams. The top four teams will receive a first-round bye.

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