The Year is 2021 and….

The Year is 2021 and the powers that reside over College Football are beginning to listen. In a landmark case, SCOTUS has unanimously backed payments to student athletes. While this will forever change the sport as well as college athletics in its entirety and should probably be the focus of the article considering its enormity, I am instead choosing to talk about the advent of an expanded College Football Playoff. Almost immediately after the playoff’s inception fans, players and coaches alike have been calling for expansion. The Committee listened and now talks of how to implement a 12 team playoff have begun. Here’s why any casual fan should be absolutely enamored with the newest content update.

First things first 3 times the teams, 3 times the fun amirite? The story lines that will result each season from an expanded playoff will be marvelous. The cinderella runs of year’s past will now be rewarded with a chance at the title even they get obliterated by a member of the cartel (Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Oklahoma). These programs consistently ruin the best stories in college football because they are hard asses and hopped on the student athlete payment train earlier than the rest ( I feel no shame in throwing unsubstantiated claims out there, none). Upsets now have a greater impact. Avenues that were once reserved for the elite are now wide enough to accompany the teams who win at the right time. That should fix the parity issue that the postseason faces each year.

One of the things that has me the most excited is the weekend in mid December where those without a bye (top 4) in on campus duels. Are you kidding me? A whiteout in a December snow? Now its possible. Cincinnati hosting USC to advance to the next round of the College Football title? Not as far fetched as it sounds. My dream of seeing the Pitt Panthers in the playoff? That much closer to being a reality. The matchups that could only be dreamt of mid-season of every year will now happen in various shapes and sizes each year. College football centric economies can look for an extra weekend in December that could very well end up producing the most revenue. Even if upsets are minimal and drama is inconsistent, the first round of on campus matchups will assuredly be a spectacle year in and year out.

To really get this point across, I need to expand on my theory on recruiting. Basically, how I see it, the most recent of disparity can be pointed to the statistical likelihood that one of 5 times will win the National Championship and so recruits who are looking both for titles and for primetime exposure to advance to the next level will sacrifice playing time and initial stardom to play for one of these programs. Having a 12 team playoff alleviates the bottleneck at the top and allows for many different teams to have the same exposure that the top 5 have had. The bottom line is, if you give more opportunities for all of the programs in the fbs to compete for a title then I believe that recruits will feel less inclined to attend one of the top 5. At the same time, the top 5 could continue their tyranny and degrade the game so they can hoard titles. I hope this makes sense to someone.

One thing that needs to be addressed pretty soon into this formation of a new system is schedule limitations. If a non top 4 team makes their conference championship and end up making the national title they would have to have played 16 games. That is not an acceptable for a collegiate athlete. I am hoping to dial back the schedule a bit by maybe 2 games. Cut down on the out of conference games. It would hurt the FCS universities who depend on the paycheck to travel to a Power 5 school but there are always pros and cons. To continue to play a 12 game regular season would make it abundantly clear that the sport as a whole is nothing but a money grab to the conferences and it’s members. As much as players commit to a demanding schedule from the start, there is no need to subject the players to a schedule similar to those who are playing with millions of dollars in their bank accounts.

As long as this is executed the correct way, the move to 12 teams will be a marvelous transition to witness. Fans and players alike will benefit from a new format. The people who are in charge finally listened to the public and enacted change. I’m almost positive that I have reached the inner circle of the playoff committee using my college football burner account, so a thank you from the readers is not expected but appreciated.