Hands Up If You Also Support the End of CFB Conference Championship Games

College football is in need of a hero, and the American Football Coaches Association just raised its hand.

Rich and the show ran through the AFCA membership's recommended changes to the calendar, and the verdict in the studio was unanimous approval. Goodbye to conference championship games. Goodbye to two bye weeks, with one remaining. No fewer than six days between playoff games. And an exclusive window for Army-Navy, which would otherwise lose its protected real estate if conference title weekend disappears.

The trade-off is moving the College Football Playoff up closer to the regular season. Rich had a quick name for what that sounds like. "Sounds like the NFL," Chris said.

The math behind the push is brutal. Indiana's 16-0 regular season run, with Fernando Mendoza at quarterback before being drafted by Tom Brady's group, ran into a wall of dead time. Twenty-seven days sat between the Big Ten Championship Game and the College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl. Then ten more days passed before Indiana faced Oregon again. Last year's national championship between Indiana and Miami landed on January 19th. This year's title game is set for January 25th. The 2028 game is scheduled for January 24th.

Meanwhile, the transfer portal window runs from the 2nd to the 16th. "What are we doing?" Rich asked, more than once.

The show's preferred end date came out fast. "How does January 1st sound?" Rich pitched. The reaction was instant recognition. The season ends, the portal opens, and the calendar starts looking like the men's basketball tournament. The crew floated nudging the portal back a day or two so a title contender doesn't have to ask, mid-press conference, whether the portal is open. Rich noted that Dan Hurley already did exactly that after losing to Michigan, asking if it was after midnight.

The streamlining question got the bleakest answer. "It involves the NCAA, which means it's not going to happen," Rich said. "They're too busy making sure somebody's not buying anybody a cheeseburger."

AFCA executive director Greg Burke said the board supports further expansion of the playoff but did not commit to a number. The room pushed back on going bigger. Rich allowed that Miami nearly missed last year before nearly winning it all, but he and the crew drew a hard line at 24 teams. Sixteen, max.

The deeper logic of axing the conference title game came up too. If your team can still make the playoff without winning its conference championship, who actually wants to play in that extra game? Oregon skipped the Big Ten Championship and still made the field. "That's exactly what you want," the show concluded.

The AFCA's slate isn't law yet, and the NCAA stands between proposal and policy. But the show's verdict was clean. Drop the conference title games. Push the playoff up. Protect Army-Navy. "All in," Rich said. "Great idea."