Expanded CFP could change how teams build rosters and schemes, Kenny Dillingham says

TEMPE — Teams like the Arizona State Sun Devils will be chomping at the bit after the College Football Playoff was expanded to 24 teams beginning in 2027.

“If you’re a team that’s always top 10, you’re probably saying, ‘Dang, there’s more games I got to play,'” ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham said Monday. “But if you’re not one of those top-10 teams that are predominantly in, I think you’ve got a greater chance to enter the tournament. And if you get a greater chance to enter the tournament, it’s a tournament; you never know what happens from there.

“So, I definitely think it opens the door for more teams, including ourselves, to get into the tournament, which is the most common sense response, right?”

Getting into the CFP that crowns the national champion will be about as doable as earning a top-25 ranking, as the field will now include the top team from each Power Four conference, 19 at-large bids and the highest-ranked Group of 6 team.

The new format will mean the end of Power Four conference championships, but Dillingham said that doesn’t impact his thinking and claims to have never brought up conference title implications with his team during the 2024 season when the Sun Devils took home the Big 12 title.

One of the ASU coach’s biggest takeaways was how system diversity across college football could come into focus in a way that top seeds might not enjoy.

“Nobody’s going to want to face a team that runs midline or under-center triple option for the 24th seed. I’ll tell you that much,” Dillingham said. “You’d rather be the No. 2 seed than the No. 1 seed.

“I think it changes the game a little bit because once you get into that tournament, there’s so many types of schemes you can run on offense and defense, right? I think the uniqueness of scheme because you’re playing across conferences can become an advantage for teams, and it can become very challenging to go (against) when you’re in a week-to-week tournament and in college, schemes are so drastically different.”

Dillingham and ASU have frequently worked out of the wildcat formation this season, and they once upset a 6-3 UCLA team on the road heavily relying on the swinging gate as a 2-7 team at the time in the coach’s first season.

He cited what Chip Kelly has done as the offensive coordinator at Northwestern, as the Wildcats averaged 34.7 points per game over a 6-1 start with their offense running a reimagined version of the wing-T.

Given Dillingham’s fondness for unique systems, will ASU lean more into an unorthodox system going forward for the “nobody wants to face that” reasons?

“I don’t know about in Tempe. We’ll cross bridges as we cross bridges,” he said.

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