Dabo Swinney weighs in on CFP expansion, eliminating conference title games
Big changes to the college football calendar may be on the horizon.
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney’s general reaction? Accept it.
“I’m different,” Swinney said Monday after the opening day of ACC spring meetings in Amelia Island, Florida. “Really not focused too much on it because don’t have any control over it. It doesn’t really matter what I think.”
College football’s format has shifted dramatically during Swinney’s 18-year Clemson tenure, from the BCS format (1998-2013) to a four-team College Football Playoff (2014-23) to a 12-team CFP (2024-25).
The latest proposal from the American Football Coaches Association, which doesn’t govern college football but plays a major role in NCAA decision-making, would impact the sport even further.
In a May 5 statement, the AFCA’s board recommended an extensive plan to fix the length of the college football season, which it described as a “critical” issue.
The AFCA’s two newsiest recommendations: “Maximize the number of participants” in the CFP, and eliminate conference championship games entirely.
AFCA executive director Craig Bohl told ESPN the organization isn’t endorsing a specific number of teams at this moment, but 16-team and 24-team playoffs are the two most popular models being discussed by leagues including the ACC.
Dabo: ‘I hate to see championship games go away’
Swinney addressed both topics at length Monday.
“I hate to see championship games go away,” he said. “... But I also understand. I mean, sooner or later, you keep adding games, the calendar’s only so many dates.”
Swinney’s Tigers have won eight of the last 11 ACC championships, the most conference titles of any program nationally since the start of the 2015 season.
He’s 9-1 overall (.900) in conference title games with Clemson. Swinney also has a personal connection to the event, as he played in the first ever conference championship game: the 1992 SEC championship game between Alabama and Florida.
“There’s a lot of people that want them to go away because they can’t get to it,” Swinney joked, adding of eliminating conference title games: “Do I like it? No. But I totally understand, because that’s what it’s going to be.”
Swinney has long said he’s fine with any playoff format, citing the fact Clemson has qualified for college football’s postseason in every iteration since he’s been coach. The Tigers made a BCS New Year’s Six game in 2013, reached six consecutive four-team CFPs from 2015-20 and the 12-team CFP in 2024.
“My job is to just coach my team in whatever the system is,” Swinney said. “And we’ve been in every system. Every one.”
Swinney said he anticipates the CFP shifting to 16 or 24 teams as early as next season and college football eventually molding into one league like the NFL, where there are 50 to 60 teams and close to half make the playoffs annually.
“That’s why the NFL is popular,” Swinney said. “There’s 32 teams and 14 playoff spots. Half the league’s always kind of in it. Even if you’ve got a crap record, if you win the right games, you’re in it. And that drives a lot of interest. College football has been different, but that’s kind of where it’s heading.”
‘You’ve got to shorten the season’
This year’s CFP national championship game between Indiana and Miami was played on Jan. 19, and the next two national title games are scheduled for Jan. 25 and Jan. 24, respectively. Cutting down on the sheer length of the season was the top motivation of the AFCA, the board said in its proposal.
Swinney said the various proposals circling around the football calendar, which also include starting the season in Week 0, wouldn’t solve a complicated setup he’s critiqued at length in the past, but it would help.
“This is my 18th (spring) meetings,” Swinney said. “There’s a lot of things we used to care about we don’t care about anymore. ... We used to care about finals. We don’t care about that anymore. We used to care about health and safety, and now we’re just gonna play about every week for how many weeks.”
Swinney also said an expanded playoff field will increase coaching turnover (and, as a result, transfer portal activity) because schools won’t be as patient and move on from coaches if they can’t qualify for an expanded CFP quickly.
The ACC will continue discussing the college football calendar and viability of conference championship games in meetings this week, with league commissioner Jim Phillips expected to give a formal update Wednesday.
Swinney said both major changes make sense given the current state and trajectory of college football and his job is to work within those parameters to help Clemson.
“I don’t love to see those things go away, but I don’t see any other path forward, because, again, you’ve got to shorten the season,” Swinney said.
This story was originally published May 11, 2026 at 8:24 PM.
