If the Big Ten has its way, the College Football Playoff could soon double or more in size.
The conference’s latest proposal for CFP expansion calls for a jump to 24 or 28 teams, with the Big Ten and SEC both receiving seven automatic bids and the ACC and Big 12 each receiving five automatic bids in a 28-team model.
We aren’t fans of the idea.
While the first 12-team playoff was a success – especially for Ohio State – that doesn’t mean the CFP should continue expanding with reckless abandon. There’s an obvious reason why further expansion remains a hot topic – money – but a playoff format that allows 8-4 or possibly even 7-5 teams to make the field threatens to destroy the week-to-week excitement that makes college football’s regular season so great.
That’s why Andy hates the idea of a 24-plus-team College Football Playoff “with every fiber of my being,” while Garrick described the idea as “poppycock.” Even Dan, who’s long been a proponent of CFP expansion, thinks an expansion to 16 teams is as far as the CFP should go – though we all agree there should be no rush to expand beyond 12, especially now that last year’s seeding format issues have been fixed.
We believe the 24/28-team proposal is probably a negotiating ploy by the Big Ten to make its 16-team model with four automatic berths for the Big Ten and SEC look more favorable, but will the push for more and more money in the new revenue-sharing world of college football eventually lead us to a bigger playoff than anyone wants?
We share our full thoughts on the Big Ten’s latest CFP proposal and where we believe the sweet spot for playoff expansion is on a new episode of Press Coverage, which you can watch in the video at the top of the page.
