Photo from ESPN
It’s official.
Starting in 2027, college football is expanding the playoff from 12 teams to 24 teams.
It’s a move that is widely disliked by a hefty majority of college football fans.
And yet, after the announcement, I’ve seen many people say this is actually a good thing overall.
I still stand firm that it is not.
24 Teams Is Too Many
I have loved college football my entire life.
That doesn’t mean I have always loved everything that the sport has done.
Since this announcement was made, people have been reminiscing about the old days where one or two losses could keep you out entirely.
That isn’t a good thing for me.
I didn’t like a very good Oklahoma State team in 2011 not getting a chance to win a national title because of one measly loss.
Then, they expanded to 4, and that still didn’t feel right to me, because one loss (or in UCF and FSU’s case, 0 losses), meant you still did not get a chance to play for a national championship.
12, for me, was still a lot, but I think it is the best we’ve had so far.
It does not ruin a teams season for bad losses, like Ohio State to Michigan a few years ago, but it does make it a harder path for them, but it still leaves little room for error, such as Texas having that third loss to Florida and missing the playoff because of it.
It was certainly not perfect, but it was something.
24 teams does not ruin the regular season for other schools, because it means other games have playoff implications, but it does ruin it for blue bloods.
LSU currently has three losses and are on the outside looking in.
In a 24 team playoff, that 17 point loss at home to Alabama on Saturday would mean absolutely nothing, and that’s not good for the sport.
Not Every Conference Champion Is Making It In
As I mentioned above, a 24 team playoff should not exist.
But if it’s going to exist, it needs to involve every single conference champion, just like it does for every team sport.
Every professional sport has an automatic bid for a division champion.
Every other college sport has an automatic bid for a conference champion.
Even the other college football leagues behind FBS allow auto bids for conference champions!
Are those lower level schools ever going to win a national championship? Probably not.
In fact, I’d be astounded if they did.
So wait, you want teams that have no chance to win a title to make the playoff?
We’re already going to have that.
Here are the teams ranked 18-24 last year in the final college football playoff rankings.
18 - Michigan
19 - Virginia
20 - Tulane
21 - Houston
22 - Georgia Tech
23 - Iowa
24 - James Madison
(I made it 18-24 because Tulane and JMU made the 12 team, so this shows the other two schools that would make it in).
Do any of those teams have a chance to win a title?
Of course not.
So if they also have no shot to win it all, you might as well give the spots to teams that win their respective conference and at least earned the respect over an 8-4 Iowa team.
But those teams have a clearly better chance to make good first round matchups competitive than a school like North Texas or Ohio does.
Ah, but that’s not what this is for.
This is for a national championship.
That’s what we keep hearing, right? That the whole point of this playoff is to make sure we get the best teams that have a chance to win a championship, not who can make the first round matchups more interesting.
At least I’m being honest.
I know those G6 schools can’t win a national title, but neither can those lower ranked teams.
I know that.
You know that.
Deep down, they probably know that.
And the CFP Committee knows that too. They just don’t care.
And that brings me to the entire point of this ranting and raving.
Stop Defending This
You can watch it.
Hell, I’m going to watch it.
I love college football.
And those first round games might actually be good, so I’ll probably enjoy watching them!
That’s all well and good.
But do not defend it.
This is nothing more than a cash grab for ESPN, who is airing every single playoff game.
This is not for the sanctity of the sport. This is not for the fans. This is not for more competitive balance.
This is strictly for ESPN executives, conference commissioners, and various other fat cats to continue stuffing their pockets by force feeding you more college football, even though they know those extra schools don’t have a chance to win a title.
There is nothing wrong with enjoying what you will see.
Just do not defend it.
