The expansion of postseason fields in college sports is getting to an unbearable point. If recommendations from the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) become reality that is.
On Tuesday of this week, it was reported that the AFCA board – which includes Vanderbilt football head coach Clark Lea – is currently in favor of exploring another chapter of College Football Playoff expansion to a 24-team field. In fact, Ross Dellenger reported that the board wants “the maximum number of participants” in the postseason field.
Additionally, the AFCA did show favor of eliminating conference championship games and having the college football season end by the second week of January. But the biggest suggestion remains what the board said about playoff expansion.
If a playoff really does become 24 teams, the sport of college football would be ruined. A 24-team field is simply asinine and makes no sense outside of money and television ratings. Yes, people will ultimately still watch college football, but the quality of the product would be tarnished.
A 24-team playoff would be a disaster. In no world can a college football fan honestly say that 24 teams have a legitimate shot of winning a national championship, nor do 24 teams even deserve a chance to go on a playoff run.
In the final AP Top 25 rankings this past season, power conference teams ranked 20-25 had a regular season record of 9-3 or 8-4. Those are middle tier teams of the Big Ten and the Big 12 that theoretically could have ended up making a 24-team playoff. Teams that played tightly against what one would consider as mediocre to above average competition in a bowl game.
It should really be no surprise that coaches are in favor of expanding the playoffs. At the end of the day, coaches want to lead their programs to the College Football Playoff. That has become the pinnacle of college football since 2014. So why would coaches not want the playoff expanded? The more spots available, the better chance a team can get to the playoffs.
That is the quiet part coaches may not want to say out loud. It is a great recruiting pitch coaches would be able to make to some of the best up and coming athletes in the country. Imagine being a recruit and a team’s coaching staff emphasizes the fact that you would be able to get one or more opportunities to play in the CFP. How could a recruit not consider that school?
So, of course coaches want playoff expansion because it is first and foremost a great recruiting tactic and a “every good team deserves a chance” mentality second.
There is not much to add in terms of why plenty believe a 24-team playoff would be a disaster. Those who pay attention to college football know that 24 teams do not actually have a chance to win a title. They also know it would destroy the quality of football being played. Whether more blowouts occur or not, the chances of teams toward the bottom of the polls of going on a playoff run are next to none.
At the end of the day, a vast majority of teams ranked No. 1-12 will ultimately prevail against teams that are 9-3 or 8-4 and toward the bottom of the rankings.
If there are any changes to be made, it should be to shrink the playoff format to eight teams.
My proposal is this: put in the best eight teams. No auto bids. No bye weeks. Rank the best teams one through eight based on resume and record among other metrics.
Whether there are conference title games or not, the teams that are in the top eight should rise to the top in the majority of cases. In conferences like the Big Ten and SEC (or whichever two conferences have separated themselves), the conference champions and even the conference runner-ups should make an eight-team playoff anyway.
Yes, that would almost certainly exclude G5 schools. If the Group of 5 wants to do its own playoff, that is fine.
The consequence of expanding the playoffs has been the loss of interest in bowl games. Bowl games have become more so as an afterthought. A game where a team’s best players will sit out and thus reduce the quality of what a game could be at full strength.
Maybe it is a traditionalist view, but there should not be any shame in making a bowl game. Making a bowl game, especially a prestigious one, should be something that is celebrated and that fans should care about. Obviously every team’s goal should be to win a national championship, but playing in the Citrus Bowl should not be viewed as a negative or something that does not move the needle.
The playoff being at eight teams would still draw in ratings while reinvigorating high interest in the bowl games at the same time.
This will not happen. The direction college sports is going is to get as many teams a bite of the apple as they possibly can. The current 12-team playoff system is not an awful idea and this past season proved that even teams outside the top eight could make a championship run.
But if college football is to change the postseason format, shrinking it by a few spots may not be the worst idea. It would certainly be a better idea than expanding to 24 teams.
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Graham Baakko is a writer for Vanderbilt Commodores On SI, primarily covering football, basketball and baseball. Graham is a recent graduate from the University of Alabama, where he wrote for The Crimson White, WVUA-FM, WVUA 23 as he covered a variety of Crimson Tide sports. He also covered South Carolina athletics as a sportswriting intern for GamecockCentral.
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