College Football Playoff: Is it Time For Expansion?

      Today's entry comes with a tad bit of breaking news, Shortly before this writing, it has been revealed that at a meeting next week in Chicago, the College Football Playoff committee will discuss the possibility of expanding the playoff field from four teams to twelve.

     If it happens, this would be a huge move that could have a huge ripple effect felt throughout all of College Football at the FBS level.

     Previously, I expressed my personal disposition that the CFP should be expanded to six teams - a format that would mirror the NFL's system before that was expanded to include seven teams from each of the two conferences. I thought that there would be a very simple way of executing this system.

     Much like the NFL's former playoff format, the top two teams would receive a bye and immediately go in to the second round. Seeds 3-6 would play each other in the opening round (3 vs. 6 and 4 vs. 5) with the top remaining seed playing against the two seed and the lowest-rated team still in play competing against the number one seed. From there, the winners of those two games would go head-to-head to crown a national champion.

     But alas, it seems as though the College Football Playoff will bypass this and an eight team playoff system - one that I actually would have of approved as well - and jumped right to including twelve squads in the playoff.

     I do want to once again emphasize that this post is built upon the entirely hypothetical scenario that the new system is approved. It is quite possible that the committee members will disagree with the suggestion and we will remain with four programs competing for the national title.

     So having given my thoughts on the type of expanded field, what do I feel about the potential of having eight more teams added?

     I am all in favor of that possibility.

     While this is not the conclusion that I would have gone right to, if this is deemed the only practical method of expansion, then this is what needs to be done.

     When the CFP replaced the old BCS (Bowl Championship Series) system, the entire idea was to provide greater transparency and make it more fair for Group of 5 programs and independent schools not named Notre Dame to make the playoffs.

     But now almost seven years on, that transparency still has not been given. Teams outside of the major conferences still do not have a remotely fair chance of reaching the Playoff.

     This was proven by a Central Florida team that went almost two complete seasons without losing a single game. Yet, they were not even given any serious consideration for inclusion. The lack of a fair opportunity was proven once more by the fact that Cincinnati and Coastal Carolina were barely even given a look from the playoff selection committee.

     As a Ball State grad, I feel the pain of Group of 5 teams who try to convince themselves and their fans that a spot in the playoff is actually attainable.

     Worse yet, is the fact that executives of College Football continue to present the façade that parity actually exists.

     While not yet confirmed publicly, my prediction is that a twelve program format would look like this: Teams seeded 1-4 would get a first-round bye. Teams seeded 5 through 12 would play each other in the first round (5 vs. 12, 6 vs. 11, 7 vs. 10 and 8 vs. 9). From their I believe that the rest of the tournament would play out in a more traditional bracket-style, rather than the aforementioned system where the number seed would play the lowest-ranked team remaining, number two versus the second lowest-ranked team left, etc. This is system that I personally like and I think that it is very intriguing.

     Expanding the College Football Playoff field would be great for the sport. It would present long overdue opportunities to those schools who have earned them.