ESPN’s Heather Dinich reported those inside the College Football Playoff were surprised at the new Big Ten proposal for expansion. The conference was reportedly “populating” the idea to potentially expand the CFP to 24 or even 28 teams. If that sounds absurd, it just might be. Dinich spoke to CFP officials inside, as well as […]
ESPN’s Heather Dinich reported those inside the College Football Playoff were surprised at the new Big Ten proposal for expansion. The conference was reportedly “populating” the idea to potentially expand the CFP to 24 or even 28 teams.
If that sounds absurd, it just might be. Dinich spoke to CFP officials inside, as well as other people around college football and could report the same. It seems to be a massive obstacle.
“I spoke with a lot of people around college football this weekend about this, and everyone I spoke to in and out of the Big Ten stressed that this is an idea that is in its infancy,” Dinich said on Get Up. “As a matter of fact, one person in the Big Ten said that their head coaches had not even been formally presented the idea yet. And the Power Four commissioners are expected to meet in person to talk about this more in the coming weeks.
“And it’s important to know that they’ve got to have buy-in from all of the commissioners, because they are talking about eliminating conference championship games, which even those in the Big Ten will acknowledge is a huge obstacle, not impossible, but it is one of the biggest obstacles in terms of making this happen.”
The idea would include the elimination of conference championship games and creating more automatic bids for the Power Four conferences, according to ESPN. It would include seven spots for the Big Ten and SEC and five bids apiece for the ACC and Big 12. That would leave two bids for non-P4 conferences and two at-large spots.
“And I talked to multiple CFP sources and a lot of people, everyone pretty much, was surprised by this, and not everyone enjoyed being surprised by this,” Dinich said. “I talked to one person who said, ‘We look like petulant children growing spaghetti at the wall,’ and didn’t seem to believe this was a viable option.
“So there’s a lot of discussions that have to take place. But from the Big Ten perspective, they think this could be a fun mini March Madness type of event, with playing games that would enhance the regular season. And the Big Ten, a source told me they’re willing to do whatever it takes.”
Under a 28-team format, 20 College Football Playoff games would take place on campus sites – building off an idea which began last year when the 12-team bracket debuted. Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti mentioned the idea with members of the conference Wednesday, according to ESPN, though the idea is “in the very early stages.”
Category: General Sports
