What do we like about the 12-team college football playoff expansion?

Dan Wetzel, Pete Thamel & SI's Pat Forde break down the college football's impending playoff expansion. Hear the full conversation on the Yahoo Sports College Podcast. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you listen.

Video Transcript

DAN WETZEL: But let's do this on the 12-team playoff. Here's the good parts that I like if this is what it's gonna be.

So it's gonna be four weeks. It's just like the NFL's. Top four teams get a bye-- every game matters. We went through this in the old book-- like, this is how you make every game matter. When you can't lose, it's a big deal.

PAT FORDE: Yes, huge.

DAN WETZEL: Top four is huge. You cannot lose that game at the end of the season, Alabama, just get in. And then home-field, which will be tremendous--

PETE THAMEL: Yeah.

DAN WETZEL: --for at least a couple of weeks, they should do all three and then just do the final at the Rose Bowl. But they'll take care of their Bowl overlords.

PETE THAMEL: Yeah. I didn't get a sense the Bowls were gonna get the boot.

DAN WETZEL: Nah.

PETE THAMEL: I got more of a sense that people are sick of the Bowls. But again, there's still a lot of details left to be massaged here. But nobody gave me the overriding sense that they're gonna go full Wetzel on this thing.

DAN WETZEL: These games are going to be unbelievable. It's no longer like a playoff game. It's a playoff game. These will be the biggest games ever played in these stadiums-- from drop, win or go home, season over-- no little Bowl trip, no next week, nothing-- unbelievable environments.

B, the thing I like about-- I like eight. I don't want 12, but whatever. There is a much better chance of your group of five upset or your upsets in general, when you go to 12. It's a lot easier if-- let's say you're Cincinnati, and even by the college playoff system last year, like, they tried to kill them. They dropped them all the way to nine, right?

PAT FORDE: Yeah. This is how good it would be. If it was last year, that would be number nine Georgia at number eight Cincinnati at--

PETE THAMEL: That would be the biggest night--

PAT FORDE: --number eight Cincinnati.

PETE THAMEL: --in that school's existence for athletics.

DAN WETZEL: Even better, even better. So there's real chances. If you just put Cincinnati in as eight and every year send whatever the Cincinnati is to Alabama, they're going to lose--

PAT FORDE: Yeah.

DAN WETZEL: --19 out of 20 times. But if you get them a chance to host let alone-- I mean, yeah, what an unbelievable game that is.

PAT FORDE: Oh, yeah.

DAN WETZEL: It has nothing to do with whether Georgia or Cincinnati can win the championship. But what a game.

PAT FORDE: It's a great football game and just a great moment. So those two did play in a Bowl game last year, right? And it was a really good game-- really good game, went down to the literal last play. Georgia wins on a 50-something-yard field goal.

But you put that in Nippert Stadium at the-- with the G5 team as the home team, woo, give me that one, baby. That would just be fantastic.

PETE THAMEL: You just don't roll into Nippert Stadium and win a playoff game.

PAT FORDE: No.

DAN WETZEL: Winning any game is going to be huge--

PAT FORDE: Yeah.

DAN WETZEL: --for any school. Last year, the Cleveland Browns won a playoff game. They beat Pittsburgh. I've been to Cleveland twice this spring. They're still excited. Winning a playoff game is gonna be your sweet 16 trip, your Elite Eight, maybe even your Final Four.

For a lot of these schools, we won a playoff game-- huge moment for the program, the alums, the city, recruiting, everything. You create a weekend where tons of unbelievable stuff happens, and then you get to eight. Hard to-- I can't hate a 12. I prefer eight. But man, that's pretty good.

PETE THAMEL: Who would Iowa State have played, Pat?

PAT FORDE: Iowa State would have played at Florida. That would have been awesome. Oregon would have played at Kyle Field against Texas A&M. That would have been fun.

PETE THAMEL: Sounds like a good game.

DAN WETZEL: Winner goes to Notre Dame.

PETE THAMEL: Yeah.

DAN WETZEL: How about that?