Did you know that the semifinals of the College Football Playoff happened yesterday? It’s true. Alabama beat up on Cincinnati. Georgia crushed Michigan. The SEC is all, the SEC is everything.
Perhaps you missed the fun because 1) They continue to insist upon playing these games on New Year’s Eve and 2) The semifinals of the College Football playoff have, historically, been bad.
The Crimson Tide won 27-6. The Bulldogs won 34-11. These scores aren’t outliers: In 16 semifinal games since the CFP began, the average margin of victory is 21.1.
That does not make for good or fun football, y’all.
Save any and all nostalgia for the BCS or the polling systems that preceded it for somebody else. Those were awful systems, hated by most. The push for a playoff was about as unanimous and loud as we’re capable of being anymore.
So let’s fix what we’ve got, because, let’s face it, this is a business and going back to a situation where there are fewer games is wholly unlikely.
The solution, as far as I can tell, is the one that’s already been talked about so much: Expanding the playoff to include more teams.
Plenty of people were down on this idea after yesterday’s uninspiring games:
A 12 team playoff has benefits but we aren’t getting a different winner than a 4 team playoff.
— Geoff Schwartz (@geoffschwartz) January 1, 2022
That all very well may be true. Perhaps Georgia and Alabama are simply that much better than everybody else.
But expanding the playoffs makes those better teams go through more, and, crucially, would take away the full MONTH that Nick Saban gets to game plan before a semifinal.
That’s too much time for Saban. Proof: He’s 6-1 in semifinals.
Let me insert a quick caveat here: College players should only be asked to play more games if they are granted more rights, too. Long-term health care. Compensation for their labor, which might include bowl bonuses like their bosses coaches get. Special accommodations to finish out the semester while going through the playoffs. Make it right for the players, first and foremost.
Then, make it more like … every other playoff we have. The elongated break favors the “better” team and removes too many variables that create the sort of chaos we see routinely in the NFL.
Just keep the games rolling.
Another factor when you think about the playoff’s inevitable expansion. A scenario where teams sit out maybe a week, & not 25-35 days, between games, gives you better momentum as a cohesive event.
Something to think about 🍻 https://t.co/R2Mmi1sFvG
— Fifth Down College Football (@5thDownCFB) December 31, 2021
Yeah, SEC teams are still going to dominate. The Big Ten will be there too much, too. But at least you’re adding other teams into a more chaotic situation that is more liable to produce interesting games.
A different winner isn’t the point. More fanbases engaged down the stretch and more interesting games in the early rounds are the idea. https://t.co/8jIsUGqGHv
— Andy Staples (@Andy_Staples) January 1, 2022
Discussions about expanding the playoff have been on-going, and there’s some belief that a deal needs to be hammered out at some point this month.
It’s clear now that the current system isn’t even coming close to giving us the best version of college football, so something has to change. It’s fine for the sports’ traditional powers to keep winning titles because it’s always been that way.
It’s not OK for there to be so little drama along the way.
(And please, please, please move the games away from New Year’s Eve, we already have plans that day.)
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