Written by Bill Bender at Sporting News.com
Four is more, but would eight be great?
College Football Playoff executive director Bill Hancock squashed talks of expanding the College Football Playoff before the championship game in January. Hancock maintains that the four-team playoff format likely will stay in place through the length of the current 12-year contract. Hancock maintained the stance most advocates of the four-team playoff uphold.
“The disappointment that team No. 5 feels would be the same disappointment that team No. 9 feels,” Hancock said. “There wouldn’t be any change in that. For me, it’s about the regular season. Our regular season is so compelling, and I don’t think our leadership would do anything to diminish the regular season.”
That’s not going to stop the debate. Let’s do a hypothetical point-counterpoint between a four-team and eight-team supporter.
Point
The four-team playoff works. It’s like the Final Four in men’s basketball, except all the No. 1 seeds are guaranteed. Hancock makes a great point. Once the format goes to eight teams, then the pundits will spend all of November debating Nos. 7-9. A four-team format protects the regular season. How do we know? Through the first three cycles, no team with two losses has advanced to the playoff.
Counterpoint
How can you have five Power 5 conferences and four playoff spots? You’ve created one ridiculous argument before the process even starts, and it finds systems to create other ones within those conferences. Like Baylor vs. TCU in 2014 or Ohio State vs. Penn State in 2016. An eight-team format allows those arguments to be settled in a playoff atmosphere. Why not take advantage of it?
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