Clark: Anything is better than current College Football Playoff format
As you undoubtedly saw the other day, college football's leadership, as oxymoronic as that phrase might sound, is looking to expand to a 12-team playoff format once the current deal is up in 2023.
We all knew expansion was coming, of course.
There has never been a playoff in any sport at any level that didn't add more teams (and money) at some point along the way. So, we knew four wasn't going to be around forever.
I think most of us assumed the next logical number would be eight. Or maybe even 16.
I can't imagine many thought 12 would be where the commissioners would land, but hey, they're all about keeping us on our toes with bizarre decisions that seem needlessly complicated. So why should we really be surprised?
And here's the reality: What has been proposed (and I'll get to that in a second) is worlds better than what we've been dealing with since 2014.
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The current incarnation of the college football postseason is a sterile, predictable, suspenseless mess.
It's Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and then some other team from a major conference. Over. And over. And over again.
It's just ... boring.
It's been a debacle from the beginning. The bowls have been rendered meaningless. So much so that projected fifth-round picks are saying, "Nah, I'm good!" instead of playing in the Sugar Bowl.
The playoff games, by and large, have been completely forgettable. Yes, Clemson and 'Bama have played in a couple of humdingers. They've also played in a few stinkers that were over by halftime. In fact, most of the semifinal games have been almost unwatchable.
Which wouldn't be that big a deal except there are only three postseason games total. If one or two of them are more boring than a ballet recital (nothing against you ballerinas out there!), then you have a serious problem on your hands.
And college football has a serious problem on its hands.
The same teams, the same cities, the same coaches ... every year. If you don't live in like a five-state radius in the Southeast, your team isn't going to win a national championship. Your team isn't likely to ever make the playoffs either. That's the current perception.
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This 12-game playoff format won't exactly fix that first issue. The pool of teams who can actually win a national championship will remain about the same, at least in the short term.
I'm not expecting Tulsa to get in as one of the highest-ranked conference champions and go on some Cinderella run through LSU, Georgia and 'Bama to win a national title. This isn't basketball. Eventually a roster of future NFL players will take that glass slipper and smash it with a hammer.
But, and this is a big "but" in my mind, the playoffs will be a whole lot more fun. And so much more inclusive, which is what this sport desperately needs.
Right now, it's essentially like watching Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos building rocket ships to go live on the moon, while the rest of us drive around on Earth in our Toyota Corollas.
Ninety-five percent of the country feels completely left out. Like the playoffs aren't meant for them. Like college football is only concerned about 10 to 20 programs.
Under this new plan, San Diego State can maybe make a playoff. Or Central Florida. Or Houston. Or anyone from the Pac-12.
That's now going to be a reality.
And no matter how this 12-team playoff finally gets organized, it promises not to be boring. Because you'll actually have some different teams participating.
How novel!
And you might even have some close games. And maybe even an upset or two!
By the end of October in recent years, there typically have been about seven or eight teams left who are viable options for the four playoff spots.
Now, there will be 25 or even 30 teams who are still in the running to get to the postseason. Which will make the regular season matter more.
In 2016, Florida State was out of the national championship picture after Lamar Jackson scored his 14th touchdown that afternoon in Louisville. The Seminoles had no chance to play for a championship. They knew it. And it was the middle of September.
That's not good for the sport.
In this proposed format, that FSU team would have been the 11 seed in the tournament. That IS good for the sport.
It keeps fans interested, it keeps players engaged, and it might keep more of them from saying, "Peace out!" midway through the season because they don't want to hurt their draft status.
There will be so many more games that matter. For so many more teams.
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Yes, it takes away the do-or-die feel of a regular-season college football game.
When I was growing up, that was the aspect that I think I enjoyed the most, in hindsight. You knew that if FSU lost even one game, the dreams of a national championship were likely over. So, the stakes felt incredibly high. The drama was insane. One missed kick, in October, could rip championship hopes away.
Those stakes will disappear now. You'll know, as a fan base, that you can lose an opener and another game along the way and still be alive for a championship.
Remember those days, by the way? When FSU was thinking championship before the season began?!? Wouldn't it be great to get back to that by the time 2023 rolls around?
You're on the clock, Norvell! Get it done.
But back to the point: College football needs a shot of life. It needs new names, new faces, new stories, new playoff matchups.
Rewarding the six highest-ranked conference champions with an automatic berth guarantees a Group of Five team will get in. I think that's good for the sport.
It's definitely good for the future of the sport.
More teams in the postseason, from more parts of the country, means more exposure. It means these 16- and 17-year-old high school stars don't look at the same four teams in the postseason every year and think that's the only way to get into the playoff.
There will be more viable options. A lot more actually.
So far, in the seven years of the College Football Playoff, there have been a total of 11 teams who have participated. That's less than 10 percent of the total FBS teams in the country.
If the playoff had been 12 teams this whole time, just going on the Selection Committee's final rankings, there would have been 40 different teams who would have participated at least once in the College Football Playoff.
That's one-third of the country. With another 15 to 20 teams being in contention for those final few spots.
Think about it from the Florida State perspective. Right now, contending for a playoff spot seems about a million miles away. The Seminoles just went 3-6 a season ago.
But think about three years from now. Would you be stunned if FSU is a Top 15 program? Does that seem like an impossibility? It doesn't for me.
And if you're a Top 15 program, then buddy you're in contention for the playoff. And if FSU makes the playoff once or twice, if recruits start seeing that FSU is making the big tournament and playing on that big stage, then more recruits will realize they don't have to go to Oklahoma or Clemson or Alabama or Ohio State to get into the postseason.
So maybe, just maybe, a 12-team playoff format can expedite FSU's rebuild into a national championship contender.
Either way, it's going to be nice to see some new teams in the postseason.
I personally can't wait to watch the current four-team playoff format get punted into the sun. Even if the eventual national championship games don't differ all that much, the journey to that Clemson-Alabama game will be a lot more enjoyable to watch.
Contact senior writer Corey Clark at corey@warchant.com and follow @Corey_Clark on Twitter.
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