CFP expands to 12 teams in 2024 season

Over the past 25 years, college football’s postseason format for crowning a national champion has grown from two teams to four and now, starting in 2024, to 12.

For a sport that started in 1869 and spent most the 20th century using bowls and polls to determine who was No. 1, evolution has hit warp speed, racing from Bowl Championship Series to College Football Playoff 2.0.

“The times change, things change,” CFP Executive Director Bill Hancock said. “Things have moved pretty quickly relative to the last 153 years.”

The CFP announced Thursday that it will expand to a 12-team event in two years, completing an 18-month process that was fraught with delays and disagreements. It is a momentous step, one with billions of dollars at stake in terms of TV and streaming revenue and one that changes the very fabric of the postseason.

The announcement came a day after the Rose Bowl agreed to amend its contract for the 2024 and 2025 seasons, the last hurdle CFP officials needed.

Expansion is expected to produce about $450 million in additional gross revenue for the conferences and schools that participate.

Satterfield leaves Gamecocks

LINCOLN, NEB. » Marcus Satterfield will join new Nebraska coach Matt Rhule’s staff as offensive coordinator after serving in the same role at South Carolina for two seasons.

Rhule announced the hirings of five on-field assistants and a strength coach Thursday. He was introduced as the Cornhuskers’ coach on Monday.

The other on-field assistants will be E.J. Barthel, running backs; Evan Cooper, secondary; Ed Foley, special teams coordinator; and Terrance Knighton, defensive line.

Satterfield worked six seasons for Rhule at Temple, Baylor and with the Carolina Panthers. His South Carolina offense averaged 31 points and 381 yards per game.

Michigan lineman facing charge

DETROIT » Michigan standout defensive lineman Mazi Smith will play for the

Wolverines in the Big Ten championship game this weekend against Purdue while facing a felony charge of carrying a concealed gun.

The charge was filed in an Ann Arbor court, nearly two months after the handgun turned up during a traffic stop. Smith is a 21-year-old senior and team co-captain.

Smith appeared in court by video Thursday. Defense attorney John Shea said Smith was in the process of getting a concealed-weapon permit when he was stopped by police.

Woman: Joseph ‘pushed me on couch, strangled me’

LINCOLN, NEB. » Mickey Joseph, Nebraska’s interim football coach for nine games this season, is accused of putting his hands around a woman’s throat, pulling her hair and punching her before being taken into custody, according to a police affidavit filed Thursday.

Joseph, 54, was arrested on suspicion of strangulation and third-degree domestic assault. Joseph denied to police that he assaulted the woman.