In a recent media session, Texas Athletic Director Chris Del Conte spoke about the way things are currently set up with the College Football Playoff format.
Amongst other things, he expressed one of the main aspects that he'd change with it going forward:
“I prefer to expand that playoff a little bit. — If we can strengthen our regular season and keep that where our fans are engaged and want to see great games and have an expanded playoff…”
To be 100% honest, I think everyone feels the same way when it comes to how many teams should be involved in the playoffs. Having the 12-team format was better, but it's still not perfect. There were a handful of teams that more than deserved to be in it this year, but had to settle for a middling bowl game invite.
Having more teams in the CFP would be incredibly nice for programs that seemingly got snubbed by the current format, based on a faulty strength-of-schedule ranking system. There were teams such as Texas, among at least two others, who should have been shoo-ins in 2025 based on strength of schedule and top-10 wins. Unfortunately for the Longhorns, they had to settle for the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl in December.
Based on what Del Conte said, moving to a 16-team format could be perfect going forward. If we're looking at the classic "shoulda, woulda, coulda" example from teams in 2025, there were anywhere from 14 to 16 teams that probably deserved to be in the playoffs.