If you’re of a certain age, you may remember the SNL skit Taco Town, a satirical send up of American restaurants’ tendency to embiggen portion sizes until they challenge the very concept of human dignity. In the sketch’s most memorable line, a babyfaced Andy Samberg yells “Pizza! Now that’s what I call a taco!”
I yelled that same thing myself with the recent news that the NCAA basketball tournament is expanding to 76 teams starting next year. I’m not terribly sentimental about college basketball since
I only watch it in the spring as tourney time nears, but this is a craven decision that no fan wants and that will only make the sport worse and less interesting. It signals, once again, a growth-at-all-costs mindset on the part of the sport’s leadership (meaning Greg Sankey and Tony Petitti) with no regard for the fans or the student-athletes (are we still calling them that?).
What concerns me more is that this probably means a 24-team football playoff is inevitable.
Realistically, the 24-team format was probably a foregone conclusion as soon as the BCS shuffled off this mortal coil. I suppose we should count our blessings that it took more than a decade for the greedy vampire squids who run this sport to decide to woodchipper it beyond recognition. If you’re in favor of a bigger playoff, I won’t try to change your mind. But as I remain a disciple of Senator Blutarsky, here are my reasons for skepticism.
The Regular Season Is Meaningless (for Some Teams)
On this week’s episode of Split Zone Duo, Bill Connelly said that a 24-team playoff means Ohio State will never play another meaningful regular season game again. The same is probably true for a dozen other major brands in the sport who are never going to be in danger of missing the playoff. Even as a fan of a team in that group, that’s bad!
The traditional narrative about college football is that it had the Most Important Regular Season of any sport because so few teams earned a title shot. For most of the sport’s history, a team had almost no margin for error if it wanted to fulfill its greatest ambitions. Now, with 24 spots, mulligans for the bluebloods will abound. Losing to a rival may sting, but it won’t derail a season like it once did. Of course, thanks to NIL and more player freedom, a dark horse may break through — Indiana is the reigning champion, after all — but more chances for established powers with better player development systems and better prep recruiting will likely serve to consolidate titles in the same hands.
I’m not saying we have to stuff the genie all the way back in the bottle, but 12 playoff spots is enough. Sometimes we need a postseason without Ohio State, Alabama, and even GASP Georgia in it for the games to have stakes.
It’s Not About Inclusion
I think most people are cynical enough about the motives of college football leadership to know that the expanded playoff isn’t designed to give the G6 more opportunities. But take a look at the final CFP rankings from last year. There are only three G6 teams on the list, with two of them ranked below an 8-4 Iowa team despite having fewer losses. Plus, the committee has already implemented rule changes to prevent two G6 teams from ever making the 12-team field again after the debacle with Duke winning and ACC and Notre Dame getting left out last year.
Sankey and Petitti aren’t going to advocate for a bigger playoff so they can see Navy or East Carolina vying for a championship. In a 24-team field, spots 18 through 24 are primarily going to an 8-4 Mizzou team. What you’re going to get is the Reliaquest Bowl rebranded as a playoff game.
The Expanded Playoff Won’t Solve Coach Firings/Buyouts
One of the reasons I’m most certain that expansion is coming is because coaches are consolidating around the idea. That’s probably because they believe a bigger playoff means better job security. Coaches can point to making the playoff field as evidence of success for their program to engender goodwill and keep themselves employed.
Well, coaches, I have bad news for you. When you take this job, you’re holding a wolf by the ears. What the boosters want is a championship, not making the field, and they behave as responsibly with their money as a sailor on shore leave. Gone are the days where a Mark Richt-type will get a decade-plus to deliver a national title.
Do you think I’m wrong about this? Well, let’s look at some recent trends. Gus Malzahn set a record with a buyout of just over $21 million when Auburn fired him at the end of the Covid season in 2020. That’s after he nearly won a national championship in his first year and almost made the playoff again in 2017 to say nothing of his work as OC there prior to his head coaching stint. Since then, Jimbo Fisher, Brian Kelly, James Franklin, and Mark Stoops have all eclipsed that total. Fisher has a national championship, Kelly is the winningest coach in the history of one of college football’s legacy programs, Franklin is the second-winningest coach in Penn State history, and Stoops is the winngest coach in Kentucky history. But none of them won a title at that current school, and that’s what mattered.
One team out of 138 can win a championship each year. Everybody else is in danger of the pink slip, and making the tournament as a 15 seed isn’t going to save you for long.
The Controversy Won’t Go Away
After last season ended with a stupid, engineered controversy, I wrote about how further expansion wouldn’t solve the problem. There is no way to objectively determine a champion in a sport with this bizarre structure. That’s the whole point! If anything, expanding the playoff will just make the arguments worse and more annoying.
I don’t know what it will take to get me to stop watching college football, but I have a feeling I’m going to find out.
