In a survey done by Stadium asking Athletic Directors over all levels of football, an overwhelming number of Athletic Directors from Power 5 conferences believe that the College Football Playoff’s should be expanded from 4 teams. Nothing will be able to change for the next 6 years, as the current playoff system will remain status quo until this contract expires after the 2026 season concludes.
88% of FBS ADs want expanded @CFBPlayoff when current deal ends in 2025-26, they told @Stadium. 72% prefer 8-team playoff, 11% 16-teams. 66% want 8-teams to be: Power 5 champs, 1 Group of 5, 2 at larges; but 35% of P5 ADs against G5 getting guaranteed bid https://t.co/FL4qKF0DvV
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) April 8, 2020
Stadium found out that just 17% of the polled Athletic Directors would keep the CFP the way it is, with just 4 teams competing for a National Championship. The majority want to expand the playoff to 8 teams, which to me makes the most sense. Although an expanded CFP would create some issue with bowl affiliations to conferences, this version already has done that. For example, the Cotton Bowl was traditionally the runner up of the Big XII against an SEC team, but since the 2014 match-up of Missouri and Oklahoma State, the game hasn’t had the traditional foes.
If the CFP was to expand (in this hypothetical Stadium had expansion to 8 teams), the next question postured to AD’s was how to select the teams to be involved. At the current moment, the selection of teams are more objective instead of having set criteria for the selection committee to follow. Once again, the AD’s have an majority view on how the teams should be selected, each Power 5 champion would get an automatic bid, while two spots would go to at-large teams and the final spot to the highest ranked Group of 5 team.
The final question was where to hold the expanded playoff games, on the campus of the higher seed, a bowl game or neutral site? This poll was split fairly even, with a slight preference for the higher seed getting a game on campus. I love this idea, as southern teams almost never have to deal with weather elements. For instance, taking this model and applying it to last years rankings, Baylor would have had to travel to Columbus to face Ohio State in December.
I am all for the expansion of the College Football Playoff, 8 teams make the most sense to me, each Power 5 champion getting an automatic bid. I do feel like the criteria that was laid out for a G5 team isn’t up to par however. If they are ranked inside the top 10-12, I would be more comfortable including them into the group of 8 teams. Just having the highest ranked team just doesn’t make much sense to me, as last year an #17 Memphis would have qualified for the CFP to face #1 LSU. It seems like a blowout waiting to happen.
Just having the conversation now opens up the idea for CFP expansion in the future. How would you change the CFP format when the current systems contract expires?