The college football landscape is set to drastically change entering the 2024 season with the expansion of the College Football Playoff from four to 12 teams.
The new format will serve as an undercurrent to the sport’s other changes, including the expansion of the SEC and Big Ten. The week-to-week conversation surrounding the sport, importantly, will grow to include contenders for any of the top 12 spots, instead of just the previous four.
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Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell recently joined the Big Ten Network’s ‘B1G Today’ show and discussed that new playoff format. He is a big fan of the expanded field, to say the least, despite being the only head coach to bring a Group of Five program to the previous four-team playoff (Cincinnati, 2021).
“No doubt. Some way we can figure out the more opportunities for teams, the better,” Fickell said when asked if he prefers the new model. “I think for twofold, I think it makes the season better, I think it brings people into the mix longer. The more meaningful games we can play late in the year, it does so much more for all of us. For our program, for our team, even for the environment on campus. I think for us, particularly in the Big Ten, our ability to know there’s more opportunities out there to get into the playoff.”
Fickell’s response went on to highlight his experience on Urban Meyer’s Ohio State coaching staff in 2014 that led the Buckeyes to the No. 4 seed in the inaugural four-team playoff. That team went on to defeat Alabama in the national semifinal and Oregon in the national title. Its opportunity originally came thanks to the new playoff system.
“I’ve been a part of it. I’ve been a No. 4 team in the playoff that ran the table and pretty convincingly won it all,” Fickell said. “That same thing can happen from 10, 11 or 12 as teams get better or get on a roll. If you’re playing your best ball at the end of the year, there’s no telling what you can do when you get into the playoff system…Even today, the teams that are playing their best ball at the end of the year, they got a chance. And that’s what’s great about the game.”
"The more meaningful games we can play late in the year, it does so much more for all of us."@BadgerFootball's Luke Fickell shares his thoughts on the expanded @CFBPlayoff. #B1Gtoday x #B1GFootball pic.twitter.com/D46QziFl4t
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) June 13, 2024
Fickell’s answer obviously has a Wisconsin-centric perspective. The Badgers never qualified for the four-team playoff, but did finish several seasons within the top 12. This expanded model gives teams like the Badgers a chance to go 9-3 or 10-2 and still compete for a title, regardless of how challenging that competition is.
Wisconsin enters the 2024 season set to face one of the nation’s toughest schedules. A 9-3 effort against that slate could bring the team into fringe playoff contention. That is something, as Fickell notes, that will prove beneficial to the late-season interest entering the final strech.
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