It’s possible one of the biggest flaws in the expanded, 12-team College Football Playoff gets fixed for next season. Though the current format for the CFP is in contract through 2026, if all 10 FBS conferences and Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua unanimously agree on a change, it can immediately go into effect.
What exactly is the change? Fixing the seeding. It’s no surprise the idea of giving the highest ranked conference championship winners automatic byes wasn’t the best solution. The problem with it is a team like Boise State or Arizona State leapfrogged to one of the highest seeds in the playoff, despite being one of the lowest ranked teams in the top 12 rankings.
It was a good idea, but once in effect, showed there’s a better alternative. According to ESPN’s Heather Dinich, the seeding format could change from giving conference champions the top four seeds to simply granting the top four seeded teams with byes. The top five, highest-ranked conference champions would then receive an automatic bid into the playoff.
That’s the best, immediate solution to protecting the integrity of the College Football Playoff. The committee should have made that the default plan. Especially when it came into discussion on how the seeding vs. ranking worked. It was confusing from the start and in the end, probably awarded teams a bye that maybe didn’t deserve.
College Football Playoff seeding changes may take place as soon as 2025 season
This is just one of what seems to be more changes on the horizon for the College Football Playoff. The SEC and Big Ten are in cahoots to monopolize the playoff in hopes to expand to 14 or even 16 teams, granting the SEC and Big Ten four automatic bids each.
I understand the want to immediately change things, but at some point, we have to let things run their course before making drastic changes. The four-team playoff stood for 10 years before the expanded playoff came into effect.
The current format might not even make it a year. The re-seeding change is the best solution for now, but other than that, any drastic changes feel forced. Let the 12-team playoff have its ebs and flows before truly making big changes like more expanding and more automatic conference bids.
This season showed us why expanding to 12 teams was important. It also set the blueprint for what it’s going to take to woo the committee when it comes to at-large bids.
The SEC was obviously at the forefront of the controversy around the CFP, yet they severely underperformed. The Big Ten has the most schools in it, and ended up walking away with the national championship.
For the SEC to think they can just come in and propose rule changes because they were mad they didn’t get enough teams in or even win much is arrogant. And the fact that the other conferences allowed the SEC and Big Ten to have control over the CFP is the very problem that’s wrong.
I get it, everyone wants to get into the CFP. But the fact of the matter is, you have to do what needs to be done to earn a spot, not just be given a spot because you had a good conference record.
That’s what makes March Madness so fun, teams had to earn their way in, no handouts. Watering down the College Football Playoff puts the entire process into question; it’s truly hinders the credibility of why the playoff was founded to begin with.
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