Fritz backs 24-team College Football Playoff as Houston pursues a 12-team spot

Houston coach Willie Fritz said Monday that he supports the expansion of the College Football Playoff to 24 teams, arguing that the new format will give more programs access to the postseason.

The CFP will double in size beginning in 2027 as part of a five-year deal between ESPN and the CFP, which was announced Monday. The change also eliminates Power Four conference championship games.

Fritz backs the larger field

"I think it gives more people access," Fritz said at his weekly press conference ahead of Friday's game at Colorado. "I think people are thirsty for college football and quality games, and that will certainly give you more."

The 24-team field will include 19 at-large bids, the Power Four champions as determined by each league, and the highest-ranked Group of Six team. The Big 12 also announced Monday that this year's conference championship game, on Dec. 4 in Arlington, will be the last one. Beginning next year, the regular-season champion will receive the conference's automatic bid.

Houston was No. 17 in the first CFP rankings. Under a 24-team format, the program would be well placed to receive an at-large bid and could host a first-round game on campus.

Still in the hunt for this season

The Cougars are still in contention for this season's 12-team field. They need to win their final three games and have Texas Tech lose once. In that scenario, Houston would win most of the tiebreakers involving multiple two-loss teams and advance to the Big 12 championship game.

Houston's current CFP ranking is the highest in program history. Fritz was careful about what that means so far.

"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."

Injury and roster updates

Linebacker Jaden Yates returned Saturday after missing a month with a lower-body injury. He suffered the injury in Week 5 against UCF and missed the next three games before coming back after the open week. Yates led the team with nine tackles in the game.

Yates relays instructions from defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong to the rest of the unit and helps with alignment, a role that fell to Sione Fotu and Carmycah Glass while he was out. "I thought he did a good job," Fritz said. "He doesn't seem to have any side effects from the injury." Fritz added that Yates "knocked a lot of the rust off" and will play even better this week.

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."

Senior linebacker Sione Fotu missed most of practice last week while with his wife, who gave birth to the couple's first child, a daughter, on Friday. Fotu played sparingly Saturday but was back at full-time practice Monday.

Other notes

Fritz said he was happy for former Houston 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 since a serious knee injury in 2024. "Tank has responded the best way he can to adversity," Fritz said.

ESPN and Fox will use a six-day selection window to set the kickoff time for Houston's Nov. 21 game at West Virginia, the Big 12 announced Monday.