Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
The expanded College Football Playoff means more games will matter, and that’s great for teams and fans
After years of clamoring and asking both from fans and football programs alike, the news has become official: The College Football Playoff is expanding to 12 teams.
In the press release sent out today by the playoff committee, the group says that they’re excited for the upcoming era of college football, with more access to the biggest prize in FBS football.
“On behalf of the Management Committee and the Board of Managers, this is thrilling,” Executive Director Bill Hancock said in the press release. “It’s been a long process, but we are pleased that more teams and more students will have the opportunity to compete for the national championship beginning in the 2024 season. A new era of college football is about to begin. I look forward to it.”
So what does this mean for the world of college football?
Access to the Big Dance means something
Hancock’s statement about more teams having the opportunity to be in the playoff when it gets expanded is crucial in the sport. When you get the monotony of the same four teams getting the chance to play for the title every year, the sport gets stale. This year is a great example of a season feeling more fun, now that more teams are getting the chance to play for the big dance.
An expanded CFP means that more teams from other conferences will get the chance to play the game too. Sure, you’ll get the 2022 Alabama’s of the world, who have two losses and will get in, but the access is good.
Group of Five gets their shot
Perhaps the biggest winner in this entire expansion is the Group of Five. Because the original playoff was only four teams, Group of Five teams such as Western Michigan in 2017 and UCF in 2018 never got the chance to play for the shot at a national title. Now, with an expanded playoff Group of Five teams will get their opportunity to play for a title.
This also makes more games matter, late in the season. Conference championships mean more at the end of the season, especially at the G5 level. The expansion will do good for the G5.
Home Playoff Games
This is the most fun part of the expansion. In the press release, it says that games will be played on the home campus of the higher seeded teams. Getting these games that matter on college campuses will help the exposure of the game and create better atmospheres than the starched neutral site game.
A playoff game in Death Valley? The Big House hosting a playoff game in December? Sign me up.
