During the past ten years the College Football playoffs has only been the top four teams in the country which were usually the same four teams as usual which were Alabama, Clemson, and Ohio State and usually some different team making the last spot which has been in the last few years include, Georgia,Oklahoma,Michigan, Louisiana State University,Oregon,Texas Christian University, Notre Dame,Florida State,Michigan State,Cincinnati and Texas. For some of these teams they don’t get to go the playoffs often which is something fans enjoy while other teams go every year and makes most College Football fans livid, which is why after ten years, the College Football Playoff selection committee has decided to the expand the College Football Playoffs from four teams to 12. Now the question that most College Football fans and myself of course are wondering, is with the expansion of the College Football Playoffs and conference realignment of both the Big Ten, Big 12 and the Atlantic Coast Conference, who all received teams such as the University of Southern California, University of California- Los Angeles, the University of Oregon, and the University of Washington who had all moved to the Big Ten after the Pacific Atlantic Confrence folded after the 2023 College Football season. Other teams who had folded because of this reason and are now moving to other conferences in this realignment are also the University of Colorado, the University of Utah, the University of Arizona and Arizona State University who were all apart of the PAC-12 also moved to a different Confrence which was the Big 12. And Stanford and California will be joining the Atlantic Coastal Confrence only leaving two teams in the PAC-12 which are Oregon State University and Washington State University. Which the question still stands with all of the upcoming changes in College Football, will the new playoff system will be a success or a total fluke?
On the one hand I think that the expansion of the College Football playoffs from four to 12 teams will be interesting and exciting to watch for many reasons. These reasons include making the playoffs in College Football more exciting and dramatic since there will be 12 teams instead of four teams which will lead to multiple team upsets based on how high a team is seeded, adding more drama and excitement for schools who are in the playoffs, rating for these games being televised will increased such as more networks broadcasting the College Football playoffs besides ESPN and that it will also help finically for the schools who are involved since a university goes to the College Football playoffs every year then College athletes will want to attend that university which is beneficial for the university money wise. Overall, so far the College Football playoff expansion looks successful on paper but could it have some drawbacks to it based on how it formatted in the first place.
Now that the College Football playoffs have expanded to 12 teams instead of four, how exactly will this playoff system work? Bracket style, with the best teams getting a first round bye just like how the National Football League does it with its own playoffs, or how about using a lottery system to decide which team plays? Nope, the process that the College Football selection committee will be using to select each team is fairly simple, the College Football Playoff selection committee will rank the top 25 teams in the country at the end of the season and the top 12 teams in the country will be selected into the College Football Playoffs. Which these teams will be comprised of the five Conference champions, followed by the next seven ranked teams to add up to the 12 team playoff teams, but the the four highest ranked Conference champion teams that are ranked one through four will receive a first round bye. This format will be how College Football will be doing the playoffs for both the 2024 and 2025 seasons and discuss whether or not it will switch its system for the 2026 season but for now it is the 12 team format.
This format seems great and all since more teams will have a chance of possibly punching their ticket to the College Football Playoffs some might even say for some teams that haven’t done so in a long such as Penn State or the University of Southern California who both haven’t been to a College Football Playoff game when the four team system was in effect but that will change due to the 12 team system and will make fans happy to see their schools in the playoffs but with a format that could be successful is there a possibility there could be some drawbacks to this format?
Well, for starters the q2 team playoff expansion will lead to more complaining from the schools that don’t get into the playoffs take last year for instance when the four team playoof process for College Football still existed and Florida State didn’t get in with having an undefeated record many, including myself were shocked in disbelief since how could a team like Florida State with an undefeated record not get into the College Football Playoffs but a team like Alabama could instead, which lead to a lot of controversy, but point is certain teams will complain about them being in the playoffs instead of another instead of just improving for the next season. Secondly because there are first round byes for the top four ranked teams there will most likely be arguments over who should get them which fans will be upset about who gets them and who doesn’t. And finally the regular season for College Football won’t matter as much anymore due to the playoffs having 12 teams competing it now.
Overall, the expansion of the 12 team playoff format that is coining to College Football this upcoming season has its benefits but also has some doubts to it, which could lead to it succeeding or failing. But only time will tell if bringing this new format to College Football was a good idea to make things more interesting and shake up the future of College Football, and change the way we look at the game of College Football.
Little Miss Football 