A piece by Thomas DeMeo.
While it is only in the discussion phase, a potential twelve team college football playoff is now the talk of the sport so I figured I'll give my two cents on the matter. I love this idea, this is what I and many alike had in mind when the playoff was first announced several years earlier. Allow me to explain why this should be made the standard.
1.Everyone (mostly) has a chance.
If they do it right every conference champion will have a chance at making the playoff. Whether it be group five or power five, every team has a win and in. This does hurt the few independent teams (sorry Notre Dame) but that is what has always been an issue for those teams. At least with this model, there will be a direct way to guarantee your team making the playoffs. Yes I'm sure there will still be bias for the at large teams, but this way only that bias can only affect two teams at most.
2. No this will not devalue the regular season. If anything it makes it more important.
In the current four team playoff an early season loss or lack of conference championship had no real impact on the committee. They say those previous things matter, but that is a case by case basis. With the new proposal every game is important for conference standings. Often division leaders are made up of undefeated in conference teams or one loss in conference teams. If say Clemson has an early fluke loss in ACC play, even if they go undefeated from there, that could be enough to keep them out of the playoff (assuming no bias). We should no longer see no conference championship appearance Alabama get in or undefeated TCU be left out. In theory the rules to get in should become much more clear and each regular season game would contribute to each team's goal.
3. Potential upsets.
If anyone has ever seen college basketball's March Madness you know the best thing about it is some no name team stunning a top ranked opponent and stealing our hearts as the year's Cinderella story. Now college football can be the same. Great group five teams of the past like 2017 Central Florida will now have a shot at the big boys. Yes the talent difference between other conferences is massive, but even just one upset a year could make it worth it and for those that say blowouts are boring and we need only the best teams, only seven total playoff games out of twenty one games have been decided by eleven points or less. Safe to say we the fans are used to blowouts.
4. Exposure and recruiting help for everyone.
If I may reference college basketball again, I'd like to present Gonzaga, they are not in a big conference, but because they can qualify for a large tournament they and every team can build themselves up as championship contenders. Football recruits that want to compete for a championship now have more than, about six to ten teams to choose from. This could also lead to more successful group five coaches staying with their teams and not leaving. Everyone wants a championship and with an expanded playoff everyone could have a chance to compete for one.
All in all I feel an expanded playoff is the best thing for college football. At the very least it would give us some variety and a higher chance of not seeing the same three to four teams every year compete for a title. Every team could have higher ambitions than say playing in the Red Box or Duke's Mayo Bowl. Even if they reject the twelve team proposal, I think we can all agree we just want to see a non SEC team in the championship game for once.