Brian Kelly Says There's an 'Appetite' for 8-Team College Football Playoff

After five years of the current College Football Playoff format, Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly believes conference commissioners now have "an appetite to begin dialogue" for expansion of the playoffs, per Dan Murphy of ESPN.

Some believe the sport could be headed toward an eight-team playoff instead of the four-team bracket that is currently used to decide a national champion.

While a committee decides what it believes is the four best teams in college football, it has left out multiple power-conference squads in each of the past two seasons. An eight-team field would provide a better chance for each league to get at least one team into the tournament.

Even Kelly believed the conference champions deserve a chance to compete for a title, which would be possible in an expanded system.

"[That] opens up much more opportunities for at-large," the Notre Dame coach said. "We're forcing out a conference champion. We're forcing out champions in this CFP."

Others also expect a change to come soon after so much debate about the final spots in the playoff.

"Everyone has the same feeling; expansion is inevitable," former CFP committee member Barry Alvarez told Nicole Auerbach of the Athletic in an interview published Wednesday.

Neither the Big Ten nor the Pac-12 have had a team in the semifinals in either of the past two years, which could force those commissioners to be aggressive in fighting for expansion.