The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
It’s time for CFP expansion
Eight thoughts about the College Football Playoff expanding from four to eight teams.
Eight thoughts about the College Football Playoff expanding from four to eight teams:
1. Enough of the fourteam playoff format. It’s time the College Football Playoff expands to a minimum eight teams. For the sake of this argument, let’s stick to an eight-team model.
Two playoff formats would work going forward:
2. Award playoff spots to the champions of the Power 5 conferences — SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac12 and ACC — plus three wild cards. The potential flaw in this set-up is, for example, a 7-5 Pitt team upsetting undefeated Clemson in the ACC championship game. It played out as a 42-10 victory by the Tigers on Dec. 1, but had it swung the other way and this format was in place, the Panthers in the playoffs would cause an uproar. The plus of this format is opening the door — legitimately — for a team from the non-Power 5 conferences (i.e. the likes of Central Florida and Boise State). Another option:
3. Simply rank the top eight teams, regardless of conference champions. This year’s CFP field expanded by four would look like this: 8 Central Florida vs. 1 Alabama, 7 Michigan vs. 2 Clemson, 6 Ohio State vs. 3 Notre Dame, 5 Georgia vs 4 Oklahoma. Four of the Power 5 conference champs (sorry 9-3 Washington) would be represented, plus four wild cards in the Fighting Irish, the Wolverines, the Bulldogs, and the best of the non-Power 5 in UCF. Does anyone think this would be bad for the college football big boys?
4. Save Washington of the Pac-12, there would and should be few complaints across the board with that eight-team playoff. Of course, No. 9 — in this case the Huskies — will never be happy in an eight-team playoff, but the snubs would be much more limited, especially conference champs with legitimate CFP resumes.
5. The argument against expanding the playoff — the regular season becomes diminished — is laughable. It’s simple math. With more teams in the hunt for playoff spots down the stretch, it would mean more games with playoff implications.
6. The elephant in the room the CFP committee addresses each year since 2014 (the first year of the CFP) is the inclusion of an undefeated or highly ranked non-Power 5 team. UCF has reeled off two straight undefeated seasons. But the knock on it has been strength of schedule. Being all-inclusive shouldn’t be a requirement, but after a while one has to ask if it’s going take a near-miracle for the likes of an undefeated UCF to ever make a fourteam CFP.
7. The answer to No. 6 is yes.
8. The NCAA Division III playoff field consists of 32 teams, with 26 automatic qualifiers via conference championships. In D-II, it’s a 24-team field with no auto bids, with the top four teams earning first-round byes. In FCS, it’s also a 24-team field with the top eight teams getting first-round byes. Expanded playoff fields work, but at the FBS level a factor few talk about is the outdated bowl system. It’s time for a change. I’m sure the folks at the Air Force Reserve Celebration, AutoNation Cure, Raycom Media Camellia and Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowls are fine hosts but the bowl system has long best oversaturated. I would be in favor of a 12team FBS playoff with the top four teams earning byes, but for now the next logical step is expanding to eight.