No CFP Expansion Until 2026 At Earliest
February 18th, 2022 at 11:49 AM ^
Is anyone surprised by this?
February 18th, 2022 at 12:59 PM ^
SEC is the biggest beneficiary, to get as many of their teams in as possible so they can keep inviting teams in and become the only relevant conference.
I'd say a small expansion to like 6 at best, or even 8, but with a 2 team conference limit at most.
February 18th, 2022 at 2:48 PM ^
Nope. It won't change without a compelling event.
February 18th, 2022 at 11:53 AM ^
Millionaires and Billionaires couldn't agree on the best way to get richer
February 18th, 2022 at 12:10 PM ^
I often wonder how us working class citizens manage. But more games typically mean more money. Right, MLB?
February 18th, 2022 at 12:16 PM ^
How much is a gallon of milk?
February 18th, 2022 at 12:52 PM ^
They will always be worth some amount of money
February 18th, 2022 at 12:48 PM ^
Seams like that happens often.
February 18th, 2022 at 3:10 PM ^
More like the billionaires continuing to game the system and put impediments in place to keep the status quo that keeps that club small (and get richer themselves in the process). Meanwhile, the millionaire club is in constant flux with 99.99% of teams at this level never getting enough traction to reach billionaire status.
February 18th, 2022 at 11:54 AM ^
They were never going to agree to an expansion while ESPN still has exclusive rights to the broadcast.
February 18th, 2022 at 11:55 AM ^
All of this is sooooo predictable. I remember when getting the playoff in a four team format was fantastic. Now its dumb because how do you pick four? Worthy teams get left out! Politics!! This will never stop. We will have the same debates if the payoff is expanded to eight teams. Or twelve. Or 16.
February 18th, 2022 at 12:34 PM ^
Sure, there will ALWAYS be controversies. Hell, there are plenty of arguments when the NCAA basketball tourney field of 68 is released, too. But as we add more teams the system DOES improve. It'll never be perfect. But, 2 was better than 1, and 4 is currently better than 2, just as 8 WOULD BE better than 4.
February 18th, 2022 at 11:55 AM ^
S-E-C! S-E-C! S-E-C!
February 18th, 2022 at 11:57 AM ^
As long as the SEC is winning titles and getting two teams in there won’t be any changes.
February 18th, 2022 at 12:07 PM ^
They are the ones pushing for it.
February 18th, 2022 at 12:08 PM ^
Yes, from their perspective. They want it to benefit them with whatever format they go to.
February 18th, 2022 at 12:25 PM ^
Are they? Nick Saban - who probably has some influence in the conference - was recently non-committal.
February 18th, 2022 at 12:36 PM ^
It would be highly amusing for the Alliance to rigidly hold the line at 4 times and just let the new super SEC cannibalize itself every year for no reason
February 18th, 2022 at 12:10 PM ^
Whatever is good for the SEC is good for the SEC and the CFP just follows along. We'll be having this same conversation in 2042.
February 18th, 2022 at 12:20 PM ^
Young man, I remember when there was a "dumb" no-team format. Then a "dumb" two-team format. Nice that there's now a "dumb" four-team. Hopefully, we'll get to a "dumb" 8 or 16-team format.
February 18th, 2022 at 12:30 PM ^
Yeah...2 is better than 1, and 4 is better than 2...but we've been stuck with 4 for a LONG time.
D1 college football is still the only major sport without a legitimate playoff system.
I saw someone post this -- this isn't perfect, and even with an 8-team playoff, there would be issues, but just imagine how good this would be, at least compared to the current system:
How to fix college football in 5 easy steps:
1. 11 game regular season
2. Conference championships last weekend in November
3. Expand CFP to 8. Automatic bids for ACC, B1G, BigXII, Pac12 and SEC champions + 3 at-large bids
4. Start postseason 3rd weekend in December
5. Championship game on New Year's Day
Again -- it's not a perfect system. But damn. Compared to what we have now? And it doesn't seem TOO terribly difficult to implement, either. Actually seems pretty damn easy -- which is probably why it won't happen any time soon.
February 18th, 2022 at 1:19 PM ^
We've had the 4-team format for 8 years ..... which IS a long time, but it's still only HALF as long as we had the 2-team format!
(1998-2013, 16 years for 2-teams, 2014-2021, 8 years for 4-teams)
Unfortunately, things move at a glacial ace in college football. I'm not convinced we won't still be at a 4-team format in 2030.
February 18th, 2022 at 2:43 PM ^
Yeah -- I can't disagree at all here, unfortunately!
February 18th, 2022 at 3:28 PM ^
Your proposal, under current CFB mindset, would result in automatic bids for ACC, B1G, PAC 12, Big 12, SEC, and then 3 at-large SEC teams. This could seriously happen with Texas and OU now moving to the SEC. Could easily see 4 teams coming from there if the other conferences stink. No thanks. What really should happen is that the Big 12 should lose their automatic bid, because they are already a clunker of a conference, and will be losing their best team, and (on paper) their second best team. How about the other 4 conferences get the bids and that's the end of the story? And the occasionally 11-1 Oklahoma St or Baylor can pound sand. ND can decide if they want to join the ACC or not.
February 18th, 2022 at 4:50 PM ^
I liked the bowl system. College football had something special that the "National Championship" has ruined. Our guys are going to beat up your guys cuz people on the West Coast play weaker football. Half of the teams ended up a winner. Some of the teams had moral victories.
February 18th, 2022 at 1:32 PM ^
I don’t want 12, I’ve always said 8. Five power 5 conferences and having a Cinci, ND or second team from another power 5 is the answer for me. Four spots with 5 power 5 conferences never made sense to me.
February 18th, 2022 at 12:37 PM ^
I'm no fan of the SEC, but there is plenty of blame to go around... The SEC wants a format that supports 3 or more SEC teams. The B1G wants privileged selection to avoid getting locked out somehow. The ACC won't say what it wants because it's one-step up from a G5 conference and doesn't have a good future outlook without Clemson on top. The PAC-12 is clinging to the Rose Bowl like some anachronism because it fears being left behind (like the ACC). The AAC is shotgunning everything because they want a legit seat at the table.
The ACC commish says they'd like the $450M in additional playoff revenue because 'some of it can be used for students'. What's the other part of 'some of it'? Cash for recruiting and administrator bonuses? Who TF does he think he's kidding?
This whole thing is a mess. Multi-millionaires giving up a few million now for the chance to get a few more million later. It's like playing the market to them, and we're stuck on the sidelines hoping to get a handful of popcorn.
February 18th, 2022 at 12:51 PM ^
Maybe we should just not bother watching the college football playoffs till they change things. I can understand that fans of the teams that make the four-team playoff will watch, but everyone else should just skip it. TV Revenue talks real loud when no one is watching TV
February 18th, 2022 at 2:29 PM ^
I doubt that. Even if you got millions of often very dedicated fans to tune out, I don't think you'll see some dramatic change in thinking from the NCAA or the networks that carry the games or the advertisers.
I don't see the Olympics being changed or canceled because this year had low ratings. The narrative will be the time difference, the host country, the doping scandals, etc.
I always hate this, "it's the fans' fault for watching" logic that always creeps into these discussions. Like don't watch games on FOX because they have too many breaks in the game. Yes that is super annoying, but your not watching the game isn't going to suddenly get the FOX execs clutching their pearls.
February 18th, 2022 at 1:19 PM ^
The B1G should be good with this. If Michigan keeps trending on its present trajectory, the conference could be looking at the yearly possibility of always having at least two schools in the running for two of the four spots.
February 18th, 2022 at 1:20 PM ^
The foundation is so wonky, does it even matter?
Should there be more teams in the playoff? Of course, but there should also be equitably distributed divisions and conferences that point teams towards that playoff. The sort of thing that comes from one reasonable governing body and adherence to the same set of rules across all members of that body. The only way that would happen is for all the non-SEC conferences to align into a version of the NCAA that doesn't include the SEC and then stick to it for a full tv contract cycle.
February 18th, 2022 at 1:30 PM ^
It's kind of disappointing that college football doesn't have a real playoff system. I've been doing an 8, 12 and 16 team bracket every week on Instagram and Twitter under cfbplayoffedits for a few years.
Here is the 8 team final bracket:
February 18th, 2022 at 1:35 PM ^
To me, that bracket seems cool. Ultimately prob ends up same way in the end but it would be neat to watch
February 18th, 2022 at 2:44 PM ^
This past season? It very well may have ended up the same. But hey, that's the thing: they don't play these games on paper.
February 18th, 2022 at 3:07 PM ^
Only issue with this bracket is I’m betting the committee somehow moves one of Cincy or Notre Dame to avoid a rematch in the first round. Beat guess is that they actually move Michigan to #1 and Ga to #4, moving Cincy to #3 and Bama to #2.
the results would be the same, a Ga/Bama final.
February 18th, 2022 at 4:51 PM ^
None of this is necessary though. Pitt lost their playoff game when they lost to Western Michigan. Utah lost their playoff game to Brady Hoke. Cincinnati already beat ND on the road! Expanding the playoffs just gives the Bamas.of the world infinite chances to win, whereas they're more likely to not win if only two or four teams have a chance.
February 18th, 2022 at 5:19 PM ^
I agree with the aspect of Pitt & Utah losing games which should keep them out of the playoff. I do think having to play a couple of tough games back to back would expose the SEC & Clemson and benefit teams from the B1G.
Seldom do the top teams in the SEC have to play tough games in back-to-back weeks during the regular season. This is a huge advantage in so many aspects. While a team in the B1G East is often playing some trio of PSU, MSU, OSU, Michigan in consecutive weeks...down in the SEC, Alabama typically gets something like: Arkansas, The Citadel, LSU.
This not only translates to getting into the playoffs with good seedings, it helps keep the team fresh. I would love to see an SEC team have to play three tough games in consecutive weeks against unfamiliar opponents and see how well they can actually game plan and have energy for all three games.
You see this issue in the NCAA tournament constantly. The teams with overwhelming talent but lesser coaching often do well in the first game of an NCAA tourney weekend but struggle in the second when they don't have as much time to prep.
February 18th, 2022 at 1:33 PM ^
12 team bracket based on the current proposed college football playoff format:
February 18th, 2022 at 3:08 PM ^
That would suck for the B1G. Hopefully the NCAA moves conference teams around like they do in the basketball tourney.
- Sparty swaps with Utah (and play ND)
- Bucks swap with Ole Miss
February 18th, 2022 at 3:16 PM ^
I know this is just one year, but woof on the upper right - OSU vs MSU, then winner has UM? Meanwhile, we've got Ole Miss and Pitt in there? That's why 8 feels right. And again, I realize the matchups could shake out differently.
February 18th, 2022 at 1:36 PM ^
16 team bracket based on the current college football playoff top 25 rankings:
February 18th, 2022 at 2:46 PM ^
16 might be a bit much to ask within the next 100 years of D1 football, but...I mean, how fun would that be? A possible (probable?) rematch of UM-OSU in the Rose Bowl? Could social media even survive that? LOL!
February 18th, 2022 at 3:56 PM ^
I decided to look up the seedings of the FCS championship game participants back to 2014, since everyone likes to use that division as the poster child of an "ideal" 16 team playoff. Only once has a team outside the top 8 even made it to the finals (and they lost).
I didn't cut this off at 2014 for any reason other than just getting bored. But its pretty clear that 8 teams will get the job done.
Final Seed Participants Winner
2021:
8 Montana St
2 NDSU << winner
2020:
1 SDSU
2 Sam Houston << winner
2019:
1 NDSU << winner
2 James Madison
2018:
1 NDSU << winner
3 Eastern Wash
2017:
2 NDSU<<
1 JMU
2016:
NOT IN TOP 8 YSU
4 JMU<< winner
2015:
1 J-Ville State
3 NDSU<< winner
2014:
2 NDSU
5 ISU << winner
February 18th, 2022 at 1:38 PM ^
Biggest change needed is to stop taking 10-12 days to play the final.
February 18th, 2022 at 1:55 PM ^
Good, I enjoy the regular season.
February 18th, 2022 at 2:02 PM ^
I think I'm very much in the minority here, but I'm actually okay with not going to 12 teams (which I think is the generally accepted next step).
If we had gone to 12 teams this last season, we would have gotten more football (which I'm generally in favor of) but there would have been a lot of rematches or likely rematches as the playoffs advanced. Frankly, I don't want to see UM play OSU or MSU a second time in a season and depending on seeding we might have faced both again for the same reasons I didn't want to see Bama play Georgia a second time. I'd seen that game and it was great and the rematch a couple weeks later just isn't quite as interesting/takes away from the significance of the first meeting and result.
I understand a bigger playoff means we make it more often if not most years, but making it this year really felt earned to me and gave so much extra significance to that night game against Nebraska, that road game against Wisconsin, that MSU game against Purdue, and that beautiful snowy afternoon in Ann Arbor. The bigger the "post season" gets the smaller the regular season feels.
I was also against a playoff before the whole thing got underway (loved the Bowls system, even with its many flaws), so this is position I suppose isn't new for me.
If the playoff must expand, I wish it would go to 6 teams (P5 champs + 1 at large/non P5 team) with the top 2 teams getting a first round bye and then everything else playing out normally from there.
So the reasons for a failed expansion are almost certainly greed and /or stupidity based but I'm okay... even happy with the result.
February 18th, 2022 at 2:39 PM ^
Good.
The 8, 12, and 16 team playoffs coming in the future won't be as great as you all think.
February 18th, 2022 at 2:43 PM ^
This is fine. The SEC has gotten two teams in twice in 8 years - in 2017 it was rightly controversial, but this year it wasn't and shouldn't have been. They aren't as dominant as they were in the RR years, but they're still the best. The Big Ten Champ will get in most years unless they get embarrassed by Purdue. A 1 loss non-champ will get in if that happens, either from the Big Ten or the SEC. The soul of the season will still be the conference title race, which will typically come down to Michigan and Ohio State. For all its advantage, a 12 team playoff would probably ruin that.
As for the other conferences - the G5 continues to get screwed. I do feel for them. But not the rest of the P5. If a P5 champ goes undefeated, they'll be in. If they have 1 loss, they're still probably in. If a G5 champ is undefeated, then yes things are unfair for them. G5 fans should be sad about this. Big Ten and SEC fans shouldn't be. Pac12, Big12 and ACC fans can be I guess - but still probably shouldn't be.
The main problem over the past 5 years were that the conference races were boring. I think the Big 12, Big 10, and ACC all had the same champion from 2017-2020. All of them had new champs in 2021 and it was delightful. That's what needs to be encouraged.
February 18th, 2022 at 2:53 PM ^
It's NOT fine. The current playoffs is a popularity contest joke that encourages you to do crap scheduling to avoid a loss.
Why would you EVER schedule a decent non-conference team under the current setup? We got lucky--Washington sucked last year.