"My football players do go to class": Penn State AD Pat Kraft expresses concerns on the proposed expansion of the College Football Playoff

Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft offered his view on the proposed expansion of the College Football Playoff on Monday. The playoffs had 12 teams for the first time in the 2024 season, leading to mixed reactions among fans. There's already a proposal to expand to 16 in 2026.

Speaking to the media on Monday, Pat Kraft noted he is open to the further expansion of the playoffs following the experience witnessed in the 2024 season. However, he highlighted his concerns about the new format which would translate to an elongated college football season.

“I don’t think it’s a bad thing to go to 14 and 16," Pat Kraft said. "The more teams in and the more kind of tournament you have, I think it’s great. We just have to continue to look at all the other aspects of that. If you have 16, what are we gonna play into? March? We go into February?

“My football players do go to class. They’ve got to go to school. So what are we doing? We have to understand the bigger impact of that. And I think looking and evaluating, do you move it up to Week Zero and start playing there? I don’t have the answer.”

Penn State participated in the first edition of the 12-team playoff last season, getting eliminated in the semifinal by Notre Dame. The Nittany Lions will aim to continue being part of the postseason tournament as it becomes bigger and better in the coming years.

Pat Kraft wants a review of the college football calendar

What has been a consensus opinion among college football stakeholders in the last couple of years is a defect in the calendar. With the playoff expansion gaining momentum, Pat Kraft called for a review of the calendar on Monday, noting the landscape has become something different.

“We have to look at the football calendar. With recruiting and everything else, it’s like Frankenstein. It’s bits and pieces from years of just putting this here, putting that there, and we’re in a totally new world. So that’s first and foremost.

“If you’re going to add two more games, you go to 16, no one really gets a bye. And I gotta be honest, I don’t know if that’s good, bad or indifferent right now. You look at what happened. I’d like to keep our team moving and not take those two, three weeks off.”

A series of changes in the landscape over the years has made the calendar unsustainable, necessitating a review. The advent of the transfer portal has led to instability in the postseason roster while the elongated season due to playoffs has made the Early Signing Period come early.