CFB Newsletter: The Actually Intriguing Thing About Playoff Expansion
The ACC is ... unified?
Welcome to the College Football Newsletter, where an expanded playoff is begrudgingly closer than ever.
It feels like the walls are closing in on this iteration of the College Football Playoff, especially after this week. We saw the American Football Coaches Association put out a statement in favor of a 24-team playoff expansion. The ACC wasn’t shy when it announced its preference for the same thing. Commissioner Jim Phillips claims that an expanded playoff would give more teams “hope.” The Big Ten has financial and perhaps competitive motivations for the same format, but the SEC would prefer a 16-team bracket.
Still, no matter what the outcome, all signs are pointing in one clear direction, and it’s “more.” At this point, it may not be a matter of whether expansion will come, but how it will look.
Not everyone is a fan of expansion, however. Steve Sarkisian was vocal about his disapproval for a new format in an interview with USA Today. He said, “We don’t think about the unintended consequences of decisions we make. It’s all knee-jerk reactions.”
He also points out that expansion would make the selection committee’s current job even harder, since they won’t have enough time to watch all the games to accurately judge which 24 teams make the cut. Based on his comments, Sarkisian doesn’t believe they have the time to fully analyze the 12 best teams right now, so what would doubling the number of slots improve? It will obviously increase revenue for some, but you’re not getting a ticket rebate or a discount on your season tickets. There’s an apparent disconnect between what administrators and coaches want right now and what fans want. Did you ask for this?
Sarkisian’s critique aside, the institutions behind this all seem coordinated in their own way to make this happen. Richard was at the ACC meetings in Jacksonville, so let’s ask him for a firsthand account of things:
The most surprising thing to me from ACC meetings was not necessarily that the ACC had gotten on board with 24 teams, but the coaches being unanimous about it. This isn’t just something coming from the suits and the bureaucrats. The coaches are on board with this here, and they’re not bucking.
You might see that happen in another conference like the SEC, and the coaches are dismissing the stuff about the regular-season devaluation. Now they’re doing it because they want to say that more access creates a more compelling November.
But in any event, they are doing it, which is very interesting to me. So the ACC not tearing itself apart and actually being united was a welcome change for ACC meetings. I mean, two years ago, we were at ACC meetings and half the league was about to sue to leave. So it’s interesting what they can accomplish when they’re together.
A unified ACC. Who’d have thought this would be what did it?
Here’s what Alex and Richard dropped into your podcast feeds this week:
Godfrey joined to talk about where Alabama is now that it’s firmly in its post-Nick Saban era. They talk about Kalen DeBoer’s extension and also about how the old way of Bama team-building is squarely in the rearview mirror for reasons bigger than the university. Godfrey is on a roll in this episode, highlighted by his comparison of Bama to a recently divorced 40-something re-entering the dating scene.
This week’s free episode dropped in your feeds this Thursday. Richard and Alex talk about Lane Kiffin, who made some comments about the racism at Ole Miss that sound incredibly insincere. That’s just a small bit of a more than hour-long show, though.
Some recommended reading:
Alex has some bad news about air travel: with Spirit shutting down and higher gas prices, your next plane ride is only getting more expensive. He writes about it at Slate.
At CBS Sports, Richard checks in on Florida and how the tone has shifted now with Jon Sumrall leading the Gators. The change in mood is exemplified by one word: good.
Listeners of the podcast this year know how much we like Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele. The Athletic’s Antonio Morales wrote about Cal’s effort to keep JKS on the roster for the long term.
Thanks for reading and we’ll talk to you next week.