Should the College Football Playoff be Expanded?
The college football playoff hasn't been around for long. Since 2014 when it began, the idea to expand it has always been floating around in the minds of college football fans across the nation. Before the playoffs, it was only the top two teams in the country playing for the national championship. No chance for big upsets or smaller schools getting the chance to compete. This part of it still hasn't really changed. The four "best" teams in the nation are the schools that get the chance at the national championship. There is controversy each year about who should get in and who should not. Would expanding the playoff help or hurt college football? And what would it take to expand? Let's take a look at three options and ideas that professionals as well as fans have come up with since 2014.
Option one: Leave it how it is
National Champions throughout the years including The Heisman winner, DeVonta Smith scoring a walk-off touchdown for Alabama against Clemson in the 2016 National Championship Game. Photo credit: https://collegefootballnews.com
Currently the Playoffs consist of the four “Best” teams in the country. A lot goes into deciding who these so-called best teams are each season. The board looks at strength of schedule, record, recruits, and so on. Every year controversy surrounds who the four best teams are and who should get in and have a chance to compete for the National Championship. This format is highly appealing to power five schools who are always atop of the rankings, aka Alabama, Ohio state, and many more. This format helps these teams because they do not have to play in as many ‘playoff’ games in order to make it to the championship. Therefore, there are way less upsets than let’s say, college basketball which has arguably the most exciting tournament in sports, March Madness. From a fans perspective, this can be less entertaining, especially with there being a chance for less anticipating games. The four best teams are also very hard to determine each year with there being so much talent around college football each year. Should two SEC teams get in? Should they let a non- power five school with an undefeated record in? The committee runs into these problems each year. A lot of the time instead of putting in a 1 loss SEC team, they put in an undefeated Big 12 team. Granted, there is no way to know which team is better if they have not played each other, but the committee focuses more on wins than the actual talent that the team has. A four-team playoff also costs less money than if there were to be more teams competing. With the venues and traveling, it can add up quickly. The media also plays into this and what station is covering what game. I personally would love to see non-power five schools competing in the playoffs with chances of upsets and more entertaining games. Now, I know I’m contradicting myself because I did just say that the four best teams should be in the Playoffs, but that’s why I think there are many flaws in the current format and it should be expanded.
Overall Pros- Less money, Tighter competition, still entertaining for fans, works with scheduling.
Overall Cons- Harder to decide who gets in, less chances for smaller schools, less upsets which can equal less entertainment.
The current playoff format includes four teams that all play for a shot at the national title. Many of the same teams are apart of it each year. Photo Credit: https://www.si.com
Option Two: Expand slightly
One idea that has been brought up to me, and I’m sure many people have thought of is the idea, is to expand it to six or eight teams. With a six-team playoff, two teams would most likely get a bye into an automatic semi-final position. This would give those teams a better chance to get to the National Championship. A six-team tournament wouldn’t necessarily solve the problem of not having as much entertainment and more upsets. With the teams who wouldn’t get a bye, it would be more like a play-in game to see who can make it to the semifinal position. There would be more games, and this would give non-power five teams and smaller schools a slightly better chance to make the playoffs and show that they can compete with the biggest schools across the nation. This would also solve the tight races when there are five or six teams that deserve the four spots, but they can only let four of them in. In other words, there would be less schools who would be considered snubbed. This still brings up the question, what about the teams right under the sixth team? Shouldn’t they get a shot too? This problem will never be solved no matter how many teams there are in the playoffs, unless there are four distinct top schools that are better than anyone in the nation. Now, an eight-team playoff is to me, the most common idea that is brought up when expanding the playoffs. To me, this would fix many college footballs current problems with the playoffs. Eight teams would give bigger teams just as good of a chance as smaller schools to get a shot at the national championship game. An eight-team playoff would require seven games. Four quarter final games, two semi finals and then a championship. A problem with this could be scheduling because most games are played a week apart from each other. This would require three weekends of high intensity games for the players and staff. To go along with, the T.V stations would all want to host these games, and this would make it harder for scheduling. However, there are 40 bowl games each year for fans all across the nation. I feel like it is possible to make seven of those games apart of the playoffs. Scheduling would be the same, except there would be less opportunities for other smaller schools to just make a bowl game. This is because some of them would be reserved for the semifinals and championship game. This would mess with scheduling, but I believe that is possible and a reasonable way too expand the playoffs and give teams more opportunities. Another thing to note, is that one of the new years six bowl games each year has a non- power five school. So, I think that if it expands to eight, then the best non-power five school should make get a shot to play in a playoff game.
Overall Pros- More opportunities, more games for fans, more revenue.
Overall Cons- Hard to schedule, costs more, more traveling for teams.
Option Three: Big tournament
Alabama was able to lift this years trophy once again as they defeated Ohio State 52-24 and proved that they were one of the greatest teams of all time. Photo credit: https://www.nbcnews.com
A lot of people have wondered why college football does not have its own form of March Madness like college basketball does. I used to be one of those people when I was younger and just starting to love sports, who would ask my dad why the playoffs are only four teams and why March Madness had 64. There are so many pros that come with this idea, but unfortunately the cons outweigh most of them. Expanding the playoffs to 32 teams sounds amazing but I feel like that is unrealistic with how many weekends it would take up and all of the scheduling issues. In basketball, the needed resting time for players is way less than football. If you were to play six games over the course of a few weeks, then there would be so many injuries to players which can hurt them if they are looking towards a future in the NFL. A 32-team tournament would give much smaller schools chances at upsets and making it to the National Championship. This also appeals to me because Boise State is one of those schools who are a top tier non- power five team. Sadly, the scheduling and money would just be too much for college football to handle. A sixteen-team tournament, however, is slightly more realistic. Of course there would still be scheduling issues and there would still be less recovery time for the players, but the most a team would need to play is four games, and that is only if they make it to the national championship. This could be accomplished in a month, with there being games each weekend. It would also give multiple group of five schools chances at the National Championship each year. However, there are always cons that come with the idea. The committee would have to decide on these teams, and there would be just as much controversy as there is now with only four teams. The tournament would also take a month. I just don’t know if college football has that time with many players declaring and wanting to prepare for the combine and NFL draft. A lot of them would sit out in worries of injuries that could end their career or shot at the NFL. A sixteen-team playoff could definitely work, and is highly appealing to all fans around the nation, but it would be very hard to pull of each year with the money and scheduling that would go into it.
Overall Pros- Appealing to fans, more games, more revenue, more teams with chances.
Overall Cons- Costs more, takes a lot of time, players declaring for draft, more help needed.
Boise State has proven to be one of the top group of five teams in the country year after year. They were able to defeat Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl in one of the most nostalgic games in the history of sports. Photo credit: https://www.si.com
Where I stand
I would love to see more teams in the playoffs, but I feel like anything more than eight is unreasonable. I would personally purpose to have an eight-team playoff with at least one group of five team in it each year. To me, this would help resolve teams who are always right on the bubble and give them more chances. I feel like the scheduling is reasonable and it would get more attention of fans around the nation. It’s a great way to meet in the middle of what the fans would want and college football with the time and money they have. What do you guys think the best option is for college football? Do you think there will be an expansion in the near future?