Apparently, all college football coaches care about is preserving their $10 million a year jobs, while providing a bailout for their overspending in the Transfer Portal.
The AFCA board met this week and made three recommendations for the future of the game:
• Expanded playoff with maximum participation
• Elimination of conference title games
• Ending the College Football Playoff by mid-January
Maximum participation, for now, means the playoff expands to four rounds and 24 teams. In 2025, that would have meant the field would have included 9-3 USC, 9-3 Michigan, Navy and North Texas.
At 8-4, No. 25 Missouri would have been howling they were snubbed, clamoring for expansion to 36, or a limit on Group of 6 participation.
Expanding the playoff while failing to solve any of the real problems
The problem with this everybody-gets-in philosophy is that it takes the most meaningful regular season in sports and gives it over to the TV hype machine. In one way the proposal doesn't go far enough-- start the season in Week Zero with a full slate and season can be wrapped up before the portal opens and the NFL playoffs start.
With an expanded field, it creates a situation where a crafty coach rests his starters for rivalry week. The coaches association likes it, because it preserves their jobs. Lincoln Riley can say, "Well, we made the playoffs. This proves we're on the right track. Fight on."
Never mind he had to drop the game with Notre Dame to get there. Schedules will take another hit, because nobody has to strive for ranked wins or credibility. Line up three cupcakes early and slide into the Top 25 with a 6-3 conference record.
ADs like the idea because it creates a bigger pie of network money. It's a short-term fix for a lack of discipline-- now they can pay for all those five million dollar quarterbacks.
Eight was probably optimal. Twelve was enough. It created debate and interest, and teams had to be truly elite to make the field. As it is, there are rarely more than six teams with a legitimate shot to win it all.
One day, college football will be run by a strong commissioner who cares about the sport and understands its history. If the visor-wearing greed heads don't destroy it first.
Add us as a preferred source on Google