Before I start, be forewarned that I am a Penn State fan. The article may seem biased but I will try my best to keep it civil. It's only been a handful of years since the college football playoff was adopted, and since then there have been some notable complaints. It used to be only 2 teams, and now it has since expanded to 4. Here we are now begging for more. Are we in the wrong? I strongly believe the obvious answer is no. Look at other NCAA divisions in football. FCS has 16 teams in the playoffs. I think that asking for 8 is not a strenuous request.
The problem with a four-team Playoff is that at least one of the power conference champions is always going to be left out. With an eight-team Playoff, every champion could be included, along with possibly the best non-power champion. In fact, Many FBS coaches favor an 8 team playoff over a 4 team playoff. Even coaches of teams that are constantly in the top 4 and would not have to worry about this still say they prefer 8 over 4. Most of the coaches who want an eight-team playoff believe it should consist of the conference champions from the Power 5 leagues plus the next three highest-ranked at-large teams, or the top-ranked Group of 5 champion and the two highest-ranked at-large teams.
How can you stress winning a conference as being important if there is no reward. It simply makes no sense to take 2 teams from a conference to a playoff when neither of them are conference champions. Sadly, it looks like there is no hope for the future. CFP executive director Bill Hancock said his group is committed to only four teams for the next 12 years, and "there has been no discussion of expanding."
I understand that once the playoff is extended to 8 teams we will see #9 & #10 complaining, similar to how #5 and #6 complain now. The difference here is that 5 and 6 usually have legitimate arguments for being included. The NCAA took a huge step in implementing a playoff system and it is very close to being perfect. The TV stations are all hungry for money, and a few more playoff games with huge implications would be perfect.
Let’s be clear. No one is asking for the playoff to be turned into a March Madness type of tournament, that is crazy, but expanding to eight teams makes sense for the Playoff Committee and for the college game. Not only would there be better conference representation but all of the New Years Six bowls could be a part of the playoff every year as opposed to rotating to who actually hosts a playoff game each year. Without a doubt, the current playoff is better than the old system and for college football in general. Adding 4 more teams just makes it that much more competitive and exciting to the team that wins it all.
