In an 8-3 vote, the College Football Playoff committee wasn’t able to pass a resolution to expand from four teams to 12. While the idea of expansion had generated a lot of momentum over the last year, there are still a lot of things to be ironed out on a number of fronts.
How many teams get automatic bids? How do the conference championship games figure in? What about the bowl games? Are there on-campus matchups? Where does the Group of Five figure into all of this? What about the television contracts for the conferences, the bowls, and the playoff?
It’s a mess no doubt and yet expansion will eventually happen. College Football exists for one reason: To make money. Expansion to 12 provides more opportunities for the conferences, the schools, and the networks to make more of it.
Many have argued that the Oklahoma Sooners should stay in the Big 12 as long as the playoff is at four, arguing it’s a much more difficult path to the four-team playoff in the SEC. Admittedly, that’s true. With Alabama and Georgia at the top of the mountain, running the gauntlet of the SEC is a much tougher task than the Big 12.
The reality is, nothing’s changed for the Oklahoma Sooners.