No matter what anybody tries to do with it, nobody is ever happy with the College Football Playoff. The Big Ten Conference seems determined to make sure that continues to be the case.
According to a report from ESPN’s Pete Thamel on Saturday, the Big Ten is floating the idea of expanding the College Football Playoff yet again, going from 12 teams to as many as 24 or 28 teams.
The proposed idea for the 28-team model, per Thamel, would give both the Big Ten and the SEC seven automatic bids, while the ACC and Big 12 would receive five each. There would also be two auto bids for non-power conferences and two more at-large spots.
At this point, this is still a report of an idea. It is not even an official proposal yet.
It should stay that way.
The College Football Playoff system is far from perfect, and there are definitely changes that can — and should — be made in an effort to find the national champion. But having a bunch of mediocre teams that nobody wants to watch play in prime games is not really the solution.
Just for perspective on this: Under this idea, teams like 8-5 Michigan would have been playoff teams a year ago, as the Wolverines were the seventh-place team in the Big Ten.
While that is a big-name school, the Wolverines were not a particularly great team in 2024, certainly not on the level of a national championship contender.
Even worse, this proposal would have teams like 9-4 Louisville and 8-5 Baylor in the field.
Who is asking for that, besides probably Louisville and Baylor?
More on the proposal, from Thamel:
“The 28-team format would put 20 playoff games on campus, which would accentuate the success of that from last year’s CFP. The CFP committee would seed the field and pick the at-large teams. Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti ran the idea by his conference Wednesday, sources said, and that it has begun being shared by others.”
Yahoo’s Ross Dellenger reported that there are multiple 20-plus-team ideas being thrown around that would eliminate conference championship games. He also added that all of these ideas are still very much in their infancy and not yet close to happening.
The thing about that is, once college football people get an idea into their brains and start talking about it, there is usually no stopping them from doing it. It is usually just a matter of how long it takes them to do it. They have the power, they run the sport, and they know it.
They wanted a four-team playoff. They eventually got it.
When that wasn’t good enough and made people mad about who was left out, they wanted a 12-team playoff. They got it.
Now that it is still making people mad over who does and does not get in, they want more teams involved. They will eventually get it.
Even if nobody else wants it.
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