CFP Expansion Helps Baylor But Comes at a Cost to College Football

In a move that is going to be controversial to say the least, Pete Thamel reports that the College Football Playoff is nearing an agreement that would see the playoff field expand from 12 teams to 24 for the 2027 season.

This could mean that the Big 12 Conference and the Baylor Bears have a higher likelihood of making the postseason. It could also mean the end of regular season importance behind each game across the entire league.

College Football Continues to Change

I've been watching football since the Power-I-formation dominated the landscape. I've witnessed the rise and fall of dynasties, the development of the air raid offense, the emergence of the read option from the shotgun formation, and in more recent times the move from the BCS to a four team playoff to the current 12 team system.

Willing to accept a new style and new format, but also willing to voice my frustrations, I'm not ready for the regular season to have less meaning than it already does.

A Loss Used to Mean No Chance at a Championship Game

An undefeated season was once the golden standard for teams to attempt to reach if their goal was a National Title. Nowadays, two and three loss teams are granted equal opportunity to teams who haven't lost at all during the season. And, with the expansion and reconfiguring of the conferences, it's not impossible these days to have multiple teams undefeated in the same conference.

An expansion to 24 teams could help to truly find the champion but it could also serve to muddy up the waters of who should be ranked where.

If Past Seasons Used a 24 Team Playoff

Perennial playoff contenders Alabama and Ohio State would have made a 24 team playoff every season since 2014 had it been implemented back then. Other nearly yearly contenders throughout the top 10 are all teams that you'd expect. Clemson and their run as the ACC's top cat (11 appearances), Notre Dame and their insistence on remaining independent (10 appearances), and even the Big 12's own Utah would have appeared 8 times.

Baylor themselves would have been entered into a 24 team playoff 4 times since 2014.

Is it the Amount of Teams in a Playoff, the Scheduling, or is it the System Providing the Rankings?

If we go back to 2021 and let that 11-1 Big 12 Champion Baylor team into a playoff, we can have some fun retroactively discussing how they would have fared. But, it's more important to learn from the past rather than to live in it, and those days are gone. Were they the best team in the country? A 24 team playoff could have helped decide that very question.

This kind of speculation is great for reminiscing about yesteryear, but the very serious implications that a 24 team playoff bring can't go without mentioning. The perceived bias of the polls could become either a thing of the past, or become more egregious than it already seems to be. It's unknown currently if the proposed 24 team playoff will come with mandated requirements from each conference or if it will truly be a top 24 free-for-all.

Let's be Honest, Not All 24 Teams in a Playoff are Equals

We can look at what a 24 team playoff would have looked like for last season, and almost immediately see some discrepancies in levels of competition. And there should be; 24 teams can't all be elite and most first round games would end up acting as "conference championship game: round 2" which could even result in seeing repeat games of the conference championship games themselves.

More Games, More Money

Let's not get away from the true force behind a decision such as this one as the desire has never been to find the best team but rather to maximize profits. More money through media rights, but potentially multiple first round games that serve only to provide commercial time rather than riveting television and intense competition.

The perennial playoff teams would reap the benefits and even though the occasional smaller school could creep up into the rankings, the distance from #24 to #1 may not be the leap of talent it once was, but the gap is still a noticeable one.

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