Bill Connelly Oct 27, 2026, 07:00 AM ET

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Bill Connelly is a writer for ESPN. He covers college football, soccer and tennis. He has been at ESPN since 2019.

In the era of the 24-team College Football Playoff, which is expected to start in 2027 , it won't be about whether teams with title-caliber talent can make the field -- it will be about whether they're rounding into championship form when it matters. When you get three mulligans, minimum, before results start to impact your playoff status, the season becomes far more about fine-tuning and fiddling with the knobs than about keeping your head above water.

I'll leave this up to you to decide whether it's a good thing ( I have my own opinions ), but those sorts of dynamics are on the way. And we're almost getting a sneak preview of it with LSU .…