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By Cameron Kiszla
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New UCLA Bruins head coach Bob Chesney has a unique lens on college football, and at Big Ten Media Days in Chicago on Thursday, he weighed in on a pressing issue for the sport.
Despite recent expansion, many are calling for the College Football Playoff to grow even more beyond the 12 teams allowed in currently.
Chesney and his 2025 James Madison Dukes were one of that fortunate dozen, though when asked by the "Cover 3 Podcast," he indicated he'd be open to expanding it even further.
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Speaking with Danny Kanell, Chesney didn't outright call for the CFP to expand.
Instead, he compared the second most popular sport in the U.S. to the most popular, the NFL, and other professional leagues.
"The thing I do think is just odd is that when you go to the NBA, 70% of teams get into the playoffs, something like that, right? Go to baseball, go to basketball, any sport, NFL, any one you want, 45% to 50% of their teams get into the playoffs," he explained. "Eight percent of college football [teams] get in the playoffs. That's a little odd to me, that there's not more of an opportunity for guys to get in there."
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Chesney freely admitted the argument his critics might make against him — that he has, in fact, been part of that 8%, but he continued to advocate for more teams to get a shot at a title.
"I'm not complaining. We were a Group of Five school that never should have had an ability to get into this thing, and we did what we needed to do based on the rules that existed, and we got ourselves in. So I'm not complaining."
He also indicated he plans to bring his new school into the postseason as well.
"We're going to find a way to do that again," he said.
To be fair, Chesney acknowledged that football athletes play fewer games by design, and it's hard to compare different sports directly.
"It's a different game, the wear and tear on your body, how many more do you want to add to it? Are you keeping championship games? What are you doing with the bowls at the end of the season, and what's that going to do if you eliminate these bowl games in these towns that are depending on it? There's a lot of variables that go into it, and with every action, there's multiple equal and opposite reactions," he said.
Even considering that, though, it seems like if there's a push for CFP expansion, it has support in Westwood.
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