Expansion of the College Football Playoff has come up again in the past week with news of the number going from 12 to 16 to news of the number going from 12 to now potentially 24 or 28. With that, Paul Finebaum was the latest to object to that in hoping the playoff, and, really, […]
Expansion of the College Football Playoff has come up again in the past week with news of the number going from 12 to 16 to news of the number going from 12 to now potentially 24 or 28. With that, Paul Finebaum was the latest to object to that in hoping the playoff, and, really, Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti, slows down with these ideas.
On ‘McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning’ on Tuesday, Finebaum agreed with Greg McElroy that even expansion to 16 feels unnecessary right now for the CFP. He based that off of the sport having just done one season of the 12-team field to this point, and with that playoff already feeling very long already in its debut.
“Well, I agree,” said Finebaum. “You were there every step of the way last year and, by the end, it felt exhausting, and that’s primarily because we had never done it before. But, I mean, there was, there were times where you just when, you know, going from week two to three, you’re like going, ‘Is this ever going to end?’ and that’s now how it should feel. And, by the way, that’s not how the NFL feels, but the NFL has been doing this a lot longer.”
Despite just one year of data with the dozen berths, expansion has often come up to a bracket of 14 to 16 teams. However, over the weekend, the Big Ten began “populating” the idea of expanding to 24 or 28 teams, which has been the center of sport-wide criticism the past few days.
Finebaum understands why Petitti is this way as far as the playoff goes. Still, in thinking the playoff should stay at twelve for now, he thinks we, including some of these commissioners, should enjoy this appetizer first instead of rushing to the main course or desert.
“I think we ‘ought to stay where we are until we can figure out the next move, and that’s the problem right now,” said Finebaum.
“You know, while some leagues are being patient, Petitti just seems like he’s in a big hurry to get – if you’re on the food line, he just wants to go right to the T-bone steak and skip the salad. And, I think that comes from his background. I mean, he’s been in – listen. Let’s not forget. He’s a Harvard-educated attorney who spent time on Wall Street. He’s spent time at television networks and he’s spent time at the MLB,” Finebaum continued. “He doesn’t understand the nuances of college football and college basketball and things like that. And I think, when you just parachute in from Madison Avenue or Wall Street, you are not going to be prepared for how the game is really played where you have other commissioners – (Greg) Sankey, Jim Phillips in the ACC and the SEC – who have been in intercollegiate athletics their entire life. They understand how it works.”
Finebaum: Big Ten doesn’t have enough decent teams for 26-team format
There has been extensive conversations in recent years about the College Football Playoff, from the size to how it is formatted. In just the last week, the Big Ten’s Tony Petitti has reportedly been floating the concept of a 26-team format but, almost immediately, there was backlash. Paul Finebaum was one who has pushed, arguing that Petitti’s conference doesn’t even have enough worthwhile teams to fill the slots in that field.
“Listen, it seems TV-directed,” Finebaum said on Tuesday on ‘McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning’. “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. 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,” Finebaum said. “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. 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.”
Category: General Sports
