The College Football Playoff’s move to 24 teams is already raising a bigger question: What’s the point of conferences anymore?
Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz posed that question Tuesday, a day after the SEC announced this season’s championship game in Atlanta on Dec. 5 will be its last.
The ACC, Big Ten and Big 12 have also said they’ll stop playing title games after this season, as the expanded CFP format begins at the end of the 2027 season.
Drinkwitz acknowledged that the sport has to adapt, but he wondered whether conferences now exist only for scheduling.
“My question is why are we associated with conferences anymore if we’re not playing for a conference championship? If the point now is just to be playing into a sea of 24, are we just doing it for scheduling affiliation?” Drinkwitz told reporters. “If we’re just doing it for scheduling affiliation, is there a reason to be flying all the way across the country to play games from a national perspective?”
Wake Forest’s head coach Jake Dickert told reporters Monday that he isn’t sure how much conference affiliation will matter without title games. (Photo by Eston Parker/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images)
He isn’t the only coach raising the issue.
Wake Forest’s Jake Dickert said Monday that he isn’t sure how much conference affiliation will matter without title games, calling the change “odd.”
His Demon Deacons, who were 16th in the CFP selection committee’s initial rankings, are in position to play in the final ACC championship game in Charlotte. That game could serve as a playoff elimination game, a burden that independent Notre Dame doesn’t face.
“To not say we’re going to have conference champions, why do we have conferences?” Dickert said.
Drinkwitz also expressed broader concern about how quickly college football is changing, pointing to playoff expansion, NIL, realignment and the transfer portal. He said the sport may have devalued some of what made it special, from bowl games to regional rivalries to the excitement of building a program year to year.
Eli Drinkwitz is in his seventh season as Missouri head coach. (Photo by Justin Ford/Getty Images)
“Have we cared about the fan?” Drinkwitz asked.
Starting next season, Power Four conference titles will be decided by regular-season standings. The Army-Navy game will move into the weekend previously used for conference championships, giving it a standalone window while CFP teams rest.
For Drinkwitz, the change is personal. When he arrived at Missouri in 2020, one of his goals was to win an SEC title in Atlanta. He agreed there’s no longer a reason to play the games, but called the decision disappointing.
Missouri has played in the SEC championship game twice, losing to Auburn in 2013 and Alabama in 2014.