College football is about to look completely different, and not everyone is thrilled about the direction the sport is heading in. With the College Football Playoff officially expanding to 24 teams in 2027, Power Four conference championship games are getting wiped off the calendar. For legendary former head coach Urban Meyer, that is a tough pill to swallow, as he believes the sport is throwing away one of its best traditions just to make room for a bigger bracket.

When asked about the massive playoff overhaul, Meyer did not hold back on how much the loss of those title games stings. “Oh, you know, I have mixed emotions. I like the 12, and I’m a big believer. I’m old school about conference championships,” Meyer said. “Someone told me that if we go to 24, then maybe they get rid of conference championships. I’d be heartbroken.”

For Meyer, who won multiple SEC titles at Florida and Big Ten titles at Ohio State, those games were never just stepping stones to the national championship.

They were massive, career-defining moments played in packed NFL stadiums with everything on the line. To him, winning a conference outright in a head-to-head showdown is an accomplishment that players and coaches remember for the rest of their lives.

The three-time national champion also made it clear that he thinks the executives calling the shots are totally out of touch with what happens on the field.

“You know, I think people that make those decisions have never played or coached in the championship game,” Meyer explained. “In the Big Ten championship, the SEC championship means something. You get a ring, you can say you’re the conference champion. To me, that means a lot.”

Without a championship game at the end of the year, conferences like the SEC and Big Ten will have to hand out trophies based purely on regular-season standings and messy tiebreakers.

Instead of settling things on the turf in Atlanta or Indianapolis, teams could end up backing into a conference title while sitting on their couches. Meyer believes that takes away the magic of earning a championship ring the hard way.

Interestingly, Meyer actually likes the current 12-team playoff format, which only debuted a couple of years ago. He feels like the 12-team setup strikes a great balance by giving more programs a shot at a national title without ruining the importance of the regular season or conference title weekend.

Doubling the field to 24 teams, however, pushes the calendar to its absolute limit and forces the sport to sacrifice traditions that took decades to build.

When asked if a 24-team playoff would change how a coach prepares a team throughout the year, Meyer said the mindset in the locker room stays pretty much the same. “I don’t think so,” he noted when thinking about how he would approach the new setup.

“Because obviously your goal is to make the playoffs. What’s the difference between that and trying to win a conference championship? The same.”

At the end of the day, coaches and players are always going to line up and compete for whatever trophy is placed in front of them. Still, as college football chases bigger television deals and more postseason matchups, voices like Meyer’s are a reminder of what is being left behind. Come 2027, fans will get more playoff games than ever, even if it comes at the cost of a weekend that used to mean everything.

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