Miami's Mario Cristobal Explains Opposition to 24-Team CFP Bracket Amid Expansion Rumors

Miami head coach Mario Cristobal isn't a fan of the ACC's desire to expand the College Football Playoff to 24 teams.

Appearing on This is Football with Kevin Clark, Cristobal explained his opposition to the 24-team plan is largely due to how it would dilute the importance of the regular season.

"I'm not for the 24 team thing, that's a lot. Why play a regular season then? And I'm certainly not for automatic bids," Cristobal said.

Cristobal's comments come amid ongoing expansion rumors for the playoff, including from leaders in Miami's own conference.

ACC commissioner Jim Phillips spoke to reporters on Wednesday about his desire to double the current CFP field because "when you're leaving national championship-contending teams out of the playoff, you don't have the right number of teams in it."

Phillips' comments come in the wake of a vote last by the American Football Coaches Association to recommend NCAA leaders introduce a playoff with the "maximum number of participants."

Despite support from various NCAA and conference officials for playoff expansion, there appears to be a divide over how much to expand.

Phillips said that ESPN, which holds exclusive broadcast rights to the CFP through the 2031 season, would prefer the field remain at 12 teams and only expand to 16 if it happens.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey told reporters on Monday that he remains in favor of the 16-team field. In February, the Big Ten was reportedly circulating a document for a 24-team playoff that would eliminate conference title games and add an additional week of on-campus playoff home games.

Last season saw some controversy with the 12-team field because the ACC did not have an automatic qualifier after Duke upset Virginia in the conference title game, resulting in Tulane and James Madison getting in.

That left one at-large bid between Miami or Notre Dame, with the Hurricanes getting the spot in part because of their head-to-head win over the Fighting Irish in the season opener for both teams.

Miami took advantage of its spot in the playoff by going on a run to the College Football Playoff Championship Game before losing to Indiana.