​Marcus Freeman said the quiet part out loud.A 24-team playoff wouldn’t improve college football, but it would help the team Freeman coaches.So, he’s in favor of it.“I’m a proponent of 24 teams,” Freeman said recently on ESPN, “because it’s going to give Notre Dame football a better chance to get in the playoffs and keep our independence.”Mississippi coach Pete Golding has that same energy.“Once we gone to nine (SEC games), I think it was going to be extremely hard (to make the playoff) if you did not expand it,” Golding said.Translation: With fewer cupcake games on the schedule, SEC coaches savor the idea of an easier path to the playoff. It’s not just the SEC. Countless coaches like the idea of being able to lose three or four games and make the playoff.Toppmeyer: Field-stormings officially became lame, thanks to Tennessee VolsHayes: Arch Manning’s Texas experiment is failing. He needs the transfer portalThat self-serving attitude is how we reached this point in playoff expansion talks, where a 24-team playoff moves closer to becoming reality, even if a super-sized bracket will harpoon the high-stakes nature of the regular season and dilute the relevance of fall Saturdays like this past one, when blue-blooded brands from Texas to Alabama to Notre Dame suffered damaging losses.Narcissism guides the conference commissioners who steer the playoff. What’ll be best for me? OK, let’s do that!Coaches operate that way, too. So do the university presidents and chancellors that collectively wield the greatest power inside college sports.Money motives are wrapped up in this, too, a reality Nick Saban called out.“I do think this is all about revenue,” Saban, who’s opposed to a 24-team playoff, told reporters recently.Mega-sized College Football Playoff would boost struggling bluebloodsIf the T’s are crossed and I’s are dotted on this 24-team playoff, the current format that rewards teams that best withstand the rigors of the regular season will be replaced by a playoff that embraces participation ribbons.The 12-team bracket strikes a good balance of access and exclusivity. A 24-team bracket will reward mediocrity and work feverishly to ensure annual bids for every blueblood.Think about this: Oklahoma lost to three of the four Power Four opponents it’s played, but it’d still be in the mix for a 24-team playoff bid.Proponents of expansion would call that an upside to a 24-team bracket: It keeps more fanbases engaged in November. I say it’s OK for Oklahoma to be eliminated by mid-October, considering its offense hasn’t scored 14 points against a single Power Four opponent this season.If a 24-team playoff was in place, Notre Dame wouldn’t need to sweat its recent loss to Brigham Young. It’d collect a participation ribbon on its trip home from Provo, Utah, and proceed toward direct entry into the playoff. The Irish would be forever safe in a 24-team playoff format. That must sound good to Freeman.”I’m not saying