SCOTT: The CFP expansion is benefical to college football
The recent approval of the 12-team expansion to the college football playoff would help the NCAA so much in its efforts to make college athletics the most exhilarating form of entertainment as the audience would have more teams to watch.
For example, 13-0 University of Central Florida Golden Knights football team from the 2017-2018 regular season. Part of the decision not to allow the Golden Knights into the four-team playoff was acknowledging the big elephant in the room, Central Florida was not in a power five conference. Not only were the Golden Knights champion of the American Athletic Conference (AAC), but they were the only undefeated team in the whole country going 13-0.
The top four teams that initially made the college football playoff were Clemson, Oklahoma, Georgia, and Alabama who all accumulated at least one loss. The fact that a team cannot receive the credit they deserve for having not only an undefeated season, but the only undefeated says more about the committee than anything.
The following year the Golden Knights were snubbed again after having an undefeated regular season the week before the final rankings before the top four were selected. Maybe the reason for the second straight snub was still that the Golden Knights were is a power five conference school, but nope, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, who were also not in a power five convernce were selected at the 3rd spot in the final four.
Personally, I believe that the second season was just as impeccable if not better than the previous season. Central Florida had the undefeated regular season with a new head coach in Josh Heupel who had never led a team to a title as head coach. That told me that this program is really in the process of becoming a perennial powerhouse, but that wasn't enough to please the committee who ranked the Golden Knights eight in the college football playoff ranking after granting them the twelfth spot in the same ranking last year.
The acceptance of the proposal allows teams to not have the opportunity to get overlooked and snubbed in any given situation. 12 teams is more than enough to determine who are the elite teams deserving to compete for a national championship. With this decision, I can not see any sort of implications or controversy, leaving college football for a future to look forward to.
Contact Calvin Scott with comments at calvin.scott@bsu.edu or on Twitter @CalvinAJScott.
POE: The CFP expansion is bad for college football
With the recent meeting on Sept. 2, the College Football Playoff board of members decided to expand to 12 teams instead of four.
Initially, this sounded amazing. To be honest, as a college football fan it sounds amazing and as a bitter and cranky Notre Dame fan it sounds even better.
As good as it sounds, I do believe it is taking away the integrity of “important” games in the college football regular season, especially for the biggest conferences like the Big Ten and the SEC.
Look at games like Ole Miss and Alabama from last year, where Alabama defeated Ole Miss. This game was easily one of the biggest wins for the (at times) shaky Crimson Tide. At the end of the year, according to this new 12 team system, Ole Miss would still be in the playoff.
A team who gets beat in the regular season should not get a chance to fight for a title.
To be in the top four of the CFP you need perfection, or really close to it.
To compare this I looked at the first few games of Notre Dame's 2021 season, riddled with mistakes and enough of those mistakes to cost the Fighting Irish a loss against Cincinnati. Now, why should a team who was unprepared and slow out of the gates get to play on the biggest stage?
Exactly, they shouldn’t.
People will say they get tired of seeing the same three or four teams always being in the final four and I also get that way. But the playoff selection committee rarely gets it wrong, the teams in the final four, without much doubt are easily the best teams in the nation.
Undoubtedly, the expansion to 12 teams is a mistake, not for watching reasons, but integrity reasons. It shuts out meaningful games, and allows teams to be “imperfect,” whereas only perfect teams should be in the College Football Playoff.
Contact Elijah Poe with comments at elijah.poe@bsu.edu or on Twitter @ElijahPoe4.
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