When powerful Big 10 mogul, Jim Delany, voiced his openness last week to expanding the playoffs, the college football world took massive notice. The earth moved for than just Carole King. In college football’s hierarchy, there are few, if any, bigger movers and shakers than Delany.
Delany is the commissioner of a Big 10 conference that has been shut out of the playoff 2 consecutive years. No wonder he is interested in expansion. Many think 8 teams is nirvana. The Odyssey has major reservations.
If the playoff doubled in size, the importance of conference championship games would be greatly diminished. This year, Georgia-Alabama and Michigan-Ohio State had the feel of quarterfinal playoff games. Since the inception of the 4-team playoff in 2014, de facto quarterfinal games have existed each year. The Odyssey would favor elimination of conference title games in Power 5 conferences if the playoffs expand to 8.
The 4-team playoff has never had a 2-loss team get selected. With an 8-team playoff, 2-loss teams like 2018 Georgia (probably deserving) and 2018 Michigan (probably not deserving) will dot the playoffs. The utter importance of each week will be diminished. Will the SEC be OK with dilution of its conference championship game that currently is must-see television? Delany’s Big 10 title games are often of interest. On the other hand, the Pac 12 would do handstands with an 8-team playoff. Not only could they get a team in the playoff, their conference title game could humanely receive a mercy killing. Their Santa Clara site has resulted in an annual tidal wave of no-shows. Their commissioner, Larry Scott, has often suffered from delusions of grandeur.
The Odyssey would be much more enthusiastic with a compromise: an expansion to 6 teams. The 5 conference champions would automatically get in. If the best Group of 5 team satisfied certain criteria, you have #6. If not, the best at-large team is tabbed. We believe this would be a great solution in several regards: The conference championship becomes critical. The best two teams would receive a well-deserved bye. In fact this solution is almost perfect except for two important words: Notre Dame. You cannot have 5 conference champions plus Notre Dame plus the best Group of 5: High math indicates this equals 7. Notre Dame currently plays 5 Atlantic Coast Conference games. If the Irish schedule could incorporate 8 ACC games, problem solved.
If expansion ultimately goes to 8, credit the non-stop bleating of the 2017 alternate national champion, Central Florida, as a contributing factor. The NCAA and the Power 5 might be worried by a successful legal action. UCF’s 25-game winning streak and their bowl conquest of Auburn have given the Group of 5 much more legal bite than previously existed.
But, please, stop with too much tinkering with by far the best regular season in sports. PLEASE!