University of Houston coach Willie Fritz said Monday that he supports the expansion of the College Football Playoff to 24 teams, saying the new format will give more programs access to the postseason.
The CFP will double in size beginning in 2027, part of a five-year deal between ESPN and the CFP announced Monday, while also eliminating Power Four conference championship games.
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“I think it gives more people access,” Fritz said at his weekly press conference to preview Friday’s game at Colorado. “I think people are thirsty for college football and quality games, and that will certainly give you more.”
BOHLS: Expansion to 24 teams is wrong, greedy and bad for sport
The 24-team field will include 19 at-large bids, the Power Four champions as determined by each league, plus the highest-ranked Group of Six team.
The Big 12 announced Monday that this year’s conference championship game, Dec. 4 in Arlington, will be its last. Beginning next year, the regular-season champion will receive the Big 12’s automatic bid.
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In a 24-team field, UH – which was No. 17 in the first CFP rankings – would be in good position to receive an at-large bid and be in position to host a first-round game on campus.
REACTION: What coaches are saying
The Cougars are still in the hunt for this season’s 12-team field, needing to win their final three games and have Texas Tech lose once. In that scenario, UH would win most of the tiebreakers involving multiple two-loss teams and advance to the Big 12 championship game.
The Cougars’ current CFP ranking is the highest in program history.
“You want to be relevant,” Fritz said. “We certainly want Houston to be out there front and center as much as possible. So that’s great. But you’ve got to finish the year, and you’ve got to keep playing well. Being ranked right now doesn’t mean a whole lot. You want to be ranked as high as we can at the end of the season. That means we’ve accomplished some things.”
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A positive return
Linebacker Jaden Yates had a team-high nine tackles Saturday after missing a month with a lower-body injury.
Yates suffered the injury in Week 5 against UCF and missed the next three games before returning after the open week.
“I thought he did a good job,” Fritz said. “He doesn’t seem to have any side effects from the injury.
There are a lot of things that he does for us back there.”
Yates has the green dot on the back of his helmet, which signifies he is equipped with a coach-to-player radio communication system. Part of Yates’ responsibility is to relay instructions from defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong to the rest of the unit and help with alignment. When he was out, that responsibility fell to Sione Fotu and Carmycah Glass.
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“I think (Yates) knocked a lot of the rust off and will play even better this week,” Fritz said.
Injury report
Linebacker Carmycah Glass was scheduled to be evaluated by team doctors Monday afternoon after leaving late in the first half against Cincinnati with a lower-body injury.
“It’s not 100%,” Fritz said. “I’ll know a lot more tomorrow.”
Family matters for Sione Fotu
Senior linebacker Sione Fotu missed most of practice last week to be with his wife as the couple welcomed their first child, a daughter, on Friday.
Defensive lineman Quindario Lee said the baby now has “104 uncles on the team.”
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Fotu played sparingly in Saturday’s game but was back at practice full-time Monday.
Fritz joked that he “compared notes with having little girls.”
“That was a long time ago for me,” said Fritz, who has two daughters and a son.
Happy for Tank Dell
Fritz said he was happy for former UH star wide receiver Tank Dell, who scored his first touchdown in two years for the Texans on Sunday.
Dell caught a 63-yard touchdown in the first half of the Texans’ 44-22 win over the Chargers, his first touchdown since suffering a devastating knee injury in 2024.
“We’re just so happy for him,” Fritz said. “Tank has responded the best way he can to adversity. He’s up here a lot. I’ve gotten to know him fairly well. He loves the University of Houston, and the University of Houston loves him.”
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Dell attended the Cougars’ Oct. 17 game against Oklahoma State and was shown on the video board at TDECU Stadium.
“Everybody was going crazy over it,” Fritz said.
Waiting on West Virginia time
ESPN and Fox will exercise a six-day selection window to determine the kickoff time for UH’s Nov. 21 game at West Virginia, the Big 12 announced Monday.
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This article originally published at Willie Fritz on expanded College Football Playoff and Cougars’ chances this year | UH football notes.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
