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USATSI

Dabo Swinney is scheduled to appear at ACC Media Days on Thursday in Charlotte, North Carolina, but the Clemson coach let a spoiler fly Tuesday, when he told local reporters that the Tigers are not in favor of a 12-team College Football Playoff. The CFP could expand from four to 12 teams as early as the 2023 season, which would make it more accessible but also require that perennial participants like Clemson navigate a longer journey to a national title. 

"Our team wasn't for it, Swinney said, according to The Athletic's Grace Raynor. "They don't want to play more games. And to be honest with you, I don't think there's 12 teams good enough."

The potential for playoff expansion is among the hottest topics this week as coaches and players from three of the Power Five conferences hold their preseason media days events. While the proposed new format has mostly been met receptively, it's not hard to see why Swinney prefers a four-team format.

Clemson has made the CFP in six straight seasons and won the national title in 2016 and 2018 while finishing as the runner-up in 2015 and 2019. At present, though, the most games the Tigers can potentially play in a season is 15 if they make the ACC title game. With a 12-team format, they could play as many as 17 games if they weren't among the top-four teams that received a bye.

"Maybe we should have a 40-team Premier League with a 12-team Playoff and if you stink you get relegated to the other level or something. I don't know."

Swinney will likely be asked to expound on his CFP expansion stance this week in Charlotte. But for now, it seems like he's dragging his feet on accepting what many believe is an inevitable change for the game.

"I wasn't for the four-team (playoff)," he said, according to The Athletic. "I don't ever get it right. ... I love the college game and I loved it when it was a big deal to be top 25, top 15, top 10, go win the bowl game."