College football season’s continuing drama should quash talk of 14-team playoff

Last weekend’s college football upset extravaganza pretty much ended two arguments that have been raging around the sport for decades during its slow-walk from the antiquated poll era to the BCS to the College Football Playoff.

The first was that a real playoff like every other sport has would diminish the regular season. Wrong.

The second, from the other side of the spectrum, was that the playoff had to be expanded because it was excluding teams that were worthy of competing for a national championship. Also wrong.

Where we have landed in 2024 is what feels like a sweet spot: Tons of moments mattering that wouldn’t have otherwise mattered, like Arizona State fans flooding the field (twice) after beating BYU because of its implications for the Big 12 title race, while also ensuring every team has a fair opportunity to get in the field. Nobody really believes that Arizona State is going to win a national championship, but having a pathway into the playoff for a team that went 3-9 last year and would have otherwise been irrelevant this season is a huge net positive for the sport.

And as we sit here with one week left in the regular season, we can be assured the drama will continue: Another 18 or so games this weekend alone will have playoff implications, and they will create a whole new set of debates about which teams are in line for the final few spots.

It’s equally clear, though, that expanding the playoff further is unnecessary. Even now, it seems possible a team that has had a pretty mediocre season — maybe 8-3 Alabama or 9-2 Clemson — will find its way through the back door into the 12-team field as others crumble.

Expanding to 14 teams, as some of the conference commissioners have proposed when the new CFP contract takes effect in 2026, is not likely to increase the season’s entertainment value much, if at…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/college-football-seasons-continuing-drama-165104913.html

Author : USA TODAY Sports

Publish date : 2024-11-25 16:51:00

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