EXPAN-SHUN: SABAN NOT A PROPONENT
Doesn’t think more teams will lead to fewer routs
After Alabama coach Nick Saban spearheaded the latest College Football Playoff semifinal blowout, he was asked about the state of the playoff, which features four teams but has been considered for expansion.
Saban said he doesn't see the logic in expanding to more teams.
A reporter asked: ‘‘The semifinal games were both blowouts. Do you feel like going to an expansion with 12 teams would maybe help that and create more competitive games or do you think that would diminish the regular season too much?’’
Alabama defeated Cincinnati 27-6, and Georgia rolled over Michigan 3411.
‘‘I don’t necessarily agree with your assessment of our game,’’ Saban said. ‘‘I can’t speak to the other game, but it was a really hard-fought game for us. And we have a tremendous amount of respect for the team that we played.
‘‘If these are the best four teams and they played each other, I don’t see the logic in: If we had more teams, there would be better games. I don’t know how that adds up. But I’m really not in a position to answer that.’’
The average point differential in the College Football Playoff era’s 16 semifinal games is 18.7. Twelve of the 16 games have been decided by three or more scores.
“There are a lot of other good teams that, whether it was their consistency and performance or whatever happened to them in championship games, may have had the opportunity to get in the playoffs that didn’t,” Saban said.
“But, look, I’m not the one that needs to be deciding what the playoff needs to be. There are a lot of good people out there that can make a decision as to what’s best for college football. But the more we expand the playoffs, the more we minimize bowl games, the importance of bowl games, which I said when we went before. So I don’t think that’s changed, and I think it’s also come to fruition.”