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Sep 13, 2025; Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA; Central Michigan Chippewas head coach Matt Drinkall on the sideline in the first half against the Michigan Wolverines at Michigan Stadium. In a second picture, The Lorax joins hundreds of protesters in Eugene, Oregon.
While Central Michigan football coach Matt Drinkall may or may not speak for the trees, one thing is certain: Drinkall does speak for the majority of fans opposed to the expanded 24-team College Football Playoff.
The original playoff started in 2014 with just four teams, but expanded to 12 in 2024 after complaints that deserving teams were being left out. Now, after just three years of the 12-team format, the playoff is set to expand again, this time to 24 teams, making for a dramatic overhaul of the system.
While you’d think Drinkall, whose Chippewas theoretically now have a larger chance of making the playoffs than they did in the 12-team era, would be a fan of the expansion, that’s not exactly how he sees things.
Here is (part) of Central Michigan head coach Matt Drinkall’s quote in opposition to the proposed 24-team College Football Playoff: https://t.co/SzcEQiRg3D
— By the Belt: A MAC Sports Blog (@bythebelt) October 20, 2026
Central Michigan Coach Matt Drinkall Says Sport Is Headed Down Dangerous Path
Instead of praising the new format, Drinkall warned that the constant desire for change in college sports could lead us down a path with dangerous consequences.
“All everything since COVID has just 100 percent been reaction,” Drinkall told reporters on Tuesday. “No one has ever said, ‘OK, well if we do this, what does it look like 15 years from now? What does this look like 10 years from now? Is this in the best interest, culturally, of everyone? Or is it all just ‘How do I save my a– and make the most money right this second, right now?’ Which is what everyone’s going to do.
Drinkall said the quiet part out loud, which is what the power conferences and television networks don’t want to admit.
“Whoever has to sell TV spots or tickets at every school or promote a conference, they’re not interested in what’s good for the sport of football. They’re not interested in what’s good for young people coming up… But they want to know what makes my job the most amount of money right now. So, everything since COVID, all [the] reactionary conference realignment, eligibility, paying players, transfer policies… None of it’s good. None of it is in the best interest of the student-athlete; none of it’s in the best interest of the sport. It’s just like everybody went nuts at once.”
Matt Drinkall Referenced Dr. Seuss To Warn About Future Of College Football
In the famed Dr. Seuss book “The Lorax,” a character arrives in town and chops down a number of trees so that he can create and sell as many knit garments as possible. He told everyone how important the garments were and why they needed them.
But over time, the trees disappeared, and there was nothing left to sell, while the creatures that once called the trees home were left out in the wilderness.
That’s the direction Drinkall feels college football is heading.
“And it’s just been a downward spiral that is nonstop until it’s going to be a smoldering dumpster fire left like the Truffula trees and ‘The Lorax,'” he said. “Like, they’re going to ring this sport out for every cent they can as long as they can and prostitute the sport for financial gain. Until people stop caring, just like they did with boxing back in the 20s, Major League Baseball back when they sell all these fields out, they’re going to prostitute it as much as they can as possible until people stop caring.”
Good for Matt Drinkall. Somebody needed to stand up for the sport and the fans and think about its long-term health. And it’s nice to see him do it from a position of power. Unfortunately, one coach may not be enough to stop the path that we’re already headed down.