Real Pod Wednesdays: Why A 12-Team Playoff Should Be Good for College Football and Ohio State

By Dan Hope and Colin Hass-Hill on June 16, 2021 at 11:05 am
Ryan Day
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The College Football Playoff appears set to expand to 12 teams, and we're here for it.

Even though Colin previously said on Real Pod Wednesdays that he didn't think the playoff should be expanded to more than eight teams, he's changed his mind and now believes 12 teams is the right move for the CFP. Dan agrees, and we discuss why we believe College Football Playoff expansion will be both good for the sport as a whole and a net positive for Ohio State, even though there will be pros and cons for the Buckeyes.

We also discuss our one big gripe with the recommended playoff format – quarterfinals being at bowl sites rather than on-campus home games for the top four seeds – and answer listener questions about the possible impact of playoff expansion on Ohio State recruiting and Notre Dame remaining independent.

After reacting in real time (35:22) to the then-breaking news that Aaron Craft is returning to Carmen's Crew for this year's TBT, we quickly shift our focus back to football to discuss the developments so far in a busy month of June on the recruiting trail. We discuss the commitment of wide receiver Kaleb Brown (37:55) and how he could fit into Ohio State's offense as a slot receiver/H-back, look ahead to J.T. Tuimoloau's official visit this weekend (44:45) and Dan shares his takeaways from covering camps (51:10).

We also discuss the addition of graduate transfer kicker Noah Ruggles (55:46), plus why Ohio State also pursued graduate transfer wide receiver Daylen Baldwin (58:47) – before he ultimately committed to Michigan – and whether we should expect the Buckeyes to pursue another transfer receiver.

Finally, we answer a few more listener questions (1:07:20) on what we would change about the recruiting process, who will round out the Ohio State men's basketball recruiting class of 2022 and who's the most underrated or unheralded player on the current Ohio State football team (or whether there actually is one).

Real Pod Wednesdays is available on Spotify, Apple PodcastsGoogle Podcasts and other podcast listening platforms or you can tune in by clicking on the audio player above.

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