CFP Expanding Into 12 Teams

With the college football playoffs coming up soon, many fans are wondering what the bracket would look like if there were twelve teams since the CFP Board of Managers just announced that the expansion would take place during the 2024-2025 season. Currently, the playoffs include 4 teams. This year those teams are Georgia, Michigan, TCU, and Ohio State. Many fans have been wanting the expansion to happen for a while now. It wasn’t long ago in 2014 when they expanded from a two-team championship, called the BCS, into a four-team playoff, called CFP. The format for the new bracket may be confusing to some people. Similar to college basketball, the top six ranked teams who win their conference championship will have an automatic bid into the playoffs. Then, the next six highest-ranked teams will be included. Once the teams have been selected, they then have to be seeded. The four best conference champions will be seeded 1-4, and they will be given a first-round bye. The next four highest-ranked teams will be hosting the first-round matchups.

The expansion into 12 teams has many benefits for schools, players, fans, and college football in general. It feels like it’s the same teams winning the championship every year. Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, and Clemson have dominated the CFP since it was established and this new format could give us fans a breath of fresh air. This would also benefit the schools because there are more teams given a chance besides just the powerhouse schools. For example, if this would be in place today, Tulane would’ve made it and had a shot at the championship. Another benefit is that there would be some unique non-conference matchups we aren’t used to. As an example, Alabama and USC would be playing each other in the first round. These teams have only met 8 times, so we would be getting to watch teams who rarely play more often. Moving on, this tournament gives the players a chance to prove themselves. There will be some years where there are teams who are barely televised make it, and this setting will give their stars a chance to show the world that they are more than capable of playing in the NFL. Playoff games can increase the draft stock of players significantly, and more games mean more opportunities. Lastly, this expansion benefits college football in general. These highly anticipated games will generate loads of revenue and will give many schools a chance to make a name for themselves. Additionally, college football is all about the big games, so this makes a lot of sense.

While there are many reasons for expansion, there are still a few against it. First, there will be more blowouts because of the large skill gap between the best teams and the other teams. Georgia, Alabama, and Ohio State are still going to blow the doors off of most teams, but there are still some flukes like when Texas A&M beat Alabama last year. Overall, it will still probably be the same teams winning, so many people think it doesn’t make sense. Another issue is injuries. With an increased number of games, there is an increased chance of injury. Injuries in college football are way worse than in the NFL because in the NFL your spot and contract are solidified, but in college, nothing is guaranteed. Injuries can also derail the draft stock of athletes, and cost them millions. Lastly, it would make the regular season less important. This could make it less interesting for some fans because there is less on the line. In order to make the playoffs now, you have to have an almost perfect season. It’s highly unlikely for a two-loss team to make it, and it’s still hard to make it as a one-loss team. 

In my opinion, I think that the expansion is a great thing. I like that they are giving more teams a chance to compete for a national championship. Even though there are going to be a lot of blowouts, there will still be several exciting games to look forward to each year. I believe that this is another step in the right direction for college football and that it will only get better from here.

 

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/35155431/college-football-playoff-expansion-need-know

https://sports.yahoo.com/what-a-12-team-college-football-playoff-would-look-like-in-2022-201458991.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAJAFCvEbgT3nL44qPqUXwbRcO-euiteyvRqk4ReMkx1iQcQx7zFbNOIW424kC_2Ubojx1ViMaYDHxZecnT65T1KDBKm6OGMTh-0u7YarhBO8K9YSleWBwBGs5yW28x0gDqKwavtSwvsfw5VIbi3L1DA4xLXQISF9sLsKm0wJ1iWo#:~:text=The%20top%20four%20conference%20champions,will%20be%20at%20bowl%20sites.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-football-playoff-makes-official-12-team-expansion-beginning-in-2024-25-season/

 

Are you a fan of the current 4 team playoff?

Do you think the expansion to 12 teams is good?

Do you think we will get a larger variety of champions every year?

You need to be a member of History 360 to add comments!

Join History 360

Replies are closed for this discussion.

Replies

  • Love your topic choice and super job Mason!

  • In my personal opinion, I think that this increase from four to twelve team playoffs is a great thing for college football. I think that this change would be good for colleges that are not powerhouses in the college football world. I think that this will help give colleges that are not usually in the championship a chance to win. 

  • I think that this would be a good change for college teams. It would give more teams to experience the playoffs because they either haven't been there before or haven't been there for a while. I think we could get more teams that would advance and different teams in the championship than most year (Alabama and Michigan).

  • I think that the 4 teams in the playoff. I think that having 4 teams is a good idea and not have 12 because it is to much and will take longer then needed. I think that larger varety of champions ships are good and bad because its not fun to watch 2 teams play.

  • I think the college football playoffs expanding is a great thing. It will be a lot more exciting and give other schools a chance to prove themselves. It will also bring in a lot more money and make people want to keep watching. There will be way more exciting games and possibly some upsets.

    • I think that the expansion will bring in a lot of money as well, and that it will give other schools a chance to prove themselves.

  • I do not like the 4 team playoff.  I think that the 12 team playoff is a good thing.  I am a Tennessee fan. I think that they could defientily hang with any of the teams in the college football playoff.  Even without the all-american quarterback Hendon Hooker I think that they could possibly win the college football playoff.

    • I think that Tennessee could hang with most teams, but only if they had Hendon Hooker healthy. I think they could've had a chance, but unfortunately, we still have the four-team playoff. 

  • I believe that an expansion is very beneficial to the teams that don’t play very often it gives them a chance to show off their skills and show what they’re truly capable of. I also see that it could be every dangerous and could hurt a lot of the best players. I think it could be very helpful if we have a larger variety of champions every year so that it adds more competition to the really good teams.

  • I am very happy with the expansion to 12 teams. I think that college football will be a lot more competitive and will give more teams a chance. It has always annoyed me when teams like Alabama face easy teams every year. It bothers me that we see the same teams in the top 4 all the time. It is a big step in the right direction for college football. 

This reply was deleted.
eXTReMe Tracker