Marcus Freeman said the quiet part out loud.
A 24-team playoff wouldn’t improve college football, but it would help the team Freeman coaches.
So, he’s in favor of it.
“I’m a proponent of 24 teams,” Freeman said recently on ESPN, “because it’s going to give Notre Dame football a better chance to get in the playoffs and keep our independence.”
Mississippi coach Pete Golding has that same energy.
“Once we gone to nine (SEC games), I think it was going to be extremely hard (to make the playoff) if you did not expand it,” Golding said.
Translation: With fewer cupcake games on the schedule, SEC coaches savor the idea of an easier path to the playoff. It’s not just the SEC. Countless coaches like the idea of being able to lose three or four games and make
the playoff.
That self-serving attitude is how we reached this point in playoff expansion talks, where a 24-team playoff moves closer to becoming reality, even if a super-sized bracket will harpoon the high-stakes nature of the regular season and dilute the relevance of fall Saturdays like this past one, when blue-blooded brands from Texas to Alabama to Notre Dame suffered damaging losses.
Narcissism guides the conference commissioners who steer the playoff.
What’ll be best for me? OK, let’s do that!
Coaches operate that way, too. So do the university presidents and chancellors that collectively wield the greatest power inside college sports.
Money motives are wrapped up in this, too, a reality Nick Saban called out.
“I do think this is all about revenue,” Saban, who's opposed to a 24-team playoff, told reporters recently.
Mega-sized College Football Playoff would boost struggling bluebloods
If the T’s are crossed and I’s are dotted on this 24-team playoff, the current format that rewards teams that best withstand the rigors of the regular season will be replaced by a playoff that embraces participation ribbons.
The 12-team bracket strikes a good balance of access and exclusivity. A 24-team bracket will reward mediocrity and work feverishly to ensure annual bids for every blueblood.
Think about this: Oklahoma lost to three of the four Power Four opponents it’s played, but it’d still be in the mix for a 24-team playoff bid.
Proponents of expansion would call that an upside to a 24-team bracket: It keeps more fanbases engaged in November. I say it’s OK for Oklahoma to be eliminated by mid-October, considering its offense hasn’t scored 14 points against a single Power Four opponent this season.
If a 24-team playoff was in place, Notre Dame wouldn’t need to sweat its recent loss to Brigham Young. It’d collect a participation ribbon on its trip home from Provo, Utah, and proceed toward direct entry into the playoff. The Irish would be forever safe in a 24-team playoff format. That must sound good to Freeman.
"I’m not saying this is what’s best for college football," Freeman acknowledged on ESPN. "What do I believe is best for Notre Dame? The more opportunities we have to get in the playoffs, the better.”
In other words, the more times Notre Dame can lose without having to worry about missing the playoff, the better for Freeman.
He’s not alone.
Alabama flatlined against Tennessee and lost for a second straight week. Once the 24-team playoff is here, we’d call that a bid-clinching loss.
Texas is a bust, but don’t worry, Bevo, because … OK, so maybe Texas could find a way to miss a 24-team playoff. It’s Texas, after all.
A 24-team playoff would leave room for average teams
A 24-team bracket will essentially clinch playoff bids for programs like Ohio State, Notre Dame, Georgia and Alabama before the season starts.
It’ll also take teams that used to go to the ReliaQuest Bowl and turn that matchup into a first-round playoff game.
Some would argue that’s a feature of a 24-team playoff and not a bug. I see it differently. Putting a playoff bid on a different tier from the ReliaQuest Bowl helps ensure consequential outcomes within the regular season, where college football historically shines.
Also, let me ask you this, Iowa fans: Would you rather the Hawkeyes season finishes with a ReliaQuest Bowl victory, or end the season with a second-round playoff pulverization at the hands of Ohio State?
Playoff beatdowns to wrap up the seasons of No. 23-seeded teams are going to get really old, really quickly, and will leave me feeling nostalgic for the ReliaQuest Bowl.
The 12-team bracket risks leaving good teams out of the playoff. Notre Dame was a good team by the end of last season, but it didn’t earn a bid.
I’m OK with good teams being left out if it means preserving the consequential nature of the regular season.
The Irish looked fierce last November trampling Navy, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Stanford, but they’d left themselves vulnerable because they lost their prove-it games against Texas A&M and Miami.
Freeman likes the 24-team playoff because he knows losses to teams like BYU or Miami won’t stop the Irish from making the bracket. I understand his perspective as Notre Dame’s coach, but watering down the consequences of outcomes in September, October and November will diminish the college football calendar.
When the most consequential game on a November weekend becomes No. 20 playing No. 24 for the final bid, I think we’ll have officially lost the plot.
A 24-team playoff won’t risk keeping any good teams out. Instead, it’ll let in average teams, and make it so that good teams don’t have to fret about the consequences of losing.
All it will cost college football is its soul.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's senior national college football columnist. Listen to his podcast, "College Football Unfiltered." Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: A 24-team playoff would reward failure. Notre Dame is all for it
