There has been extensive conversations in recent years about the College Football Playoff, from the size to how it is formatted. Even just one season after the CFP expanded to 12 teams, there are talks of expansion beyond that, with the Big Ten seeming to lead the charge. Recently, the Big Ten and Commissioner Tony […]
There has been extensive conversations in recent years about the College Football Playoff, from the size to how it is formatted. Even just one season after the CFP expanded to 12 teams, there are talks of expansion beyond that, with the Big Ten seeming to lead the charge.
Recently, the Big Ten and Commissioner Tony Petitti have reportedly been floating a 26-team CFP format. That would include seven automatic qualifiers for the Big Ten and SEC. There would also be five from the ACC and the Big 12. Almost immediately, there was backlash to the idea. Even the CFP itself was surprised by the idea.
One analyst who has pushed back on the Big Ten is Paul Finebaum. Now, he’s appeared on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning, where he argued that the Big Ten doesn’t even have enough worthwhile teams to fill the slots in that format.
“Listen, it seems TV directed,” Paul Finebaum said. “Let’s be honest, we all work for television networks, but I think you have to be realistic when you’re involved in these types of conversations. I think it’s fair to say that Championship Saturday is in danger if the Playoff gets expanded. That’s not a secret, but this thing just makes no sense. We can sit here and beat a dead horse about what you just said, but they don’t have enough decent teams.”
Expansion of the CFP has come with many concerns, regardless of the format. One of those is that it would devalue the regular season if too many teams make it. Conference championship games also no longer act as a play-in game for the Big Ten and SEC, with both teams playing almost assuredly making the field. Then, there is concern that there wouldn’t be enough good games and the CFP could lose value, which is why it matters so much for TV purposes in the first place. Certainly, Finebaum has his concerns if that many teams, often with middling records, can make it into the field.
“I think a lot of people just looked at Indiana last year, and they had a really great season. But is that sustainable? Unless you had what the SEC had, it’s not. I know that sounds like okay, we’re just getting the script and reading it. We’re not. The SEC was made fun of last year because they only had three schools in the CFP,” Finebaum said. “But nobody mentions the three that were at the cutline and in the conversation. Then, if you want to bloat the whole thing up like Petitti is proposing, then that opens the door for a bunch of 8-4 teams as well.”
While for the most part, there’s been pushback to this idea, even in the SEC, coaches have floated something similar. Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz pitched a 30-team CFP, which would come with some kind of play-in game system. He also compared the percentage of teams to make it to the field in that model with the NFL, when it’s a much smaller percentage now.
For the most part, however, expansion talks have been more limited to making the jump to 16 teams and what those formats might look like. Interestingly, the Big Ten’s preferred model would include four automatic qualifiers for the Big Ten and SEC, while others prefer one auto bid per conference.
Category: General Sports
