Is it time to change the College Football Playoff format? | Yahoo Sports College Podcast
Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel and Pete Thamel, and Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde discuss the mess that will be selecting the four teams for the 2021 College Football Playoff, and if they believe it’s time to change the format to encourage more competition.
Video Transcript
DAN WETZEL: As we enter November, I mean, I think we have to redefine what we think of as a playoff team. It's like the playoff team-- there's just not going to be four unbeatens or four-- I mean, it's like what if Notre Dame and Clemson split and they both make it? I don't know. Maybe. You know, is there any path here? Could you put a-- what if Wisconsin does come back and ends up like 5 and 0 or 6 and 0 but beats Ohio State? 6 and 0, right? That's it? I don't-- it's possible.
I just feel like this is just a wide-open fourth spot--
PETE THAMEL: Yes.
DAN WETZEL: --right now.
PAT FORDE: Yeah. I look at as I say-- you know, we have talked several times on this podcast about playoff expansion. I am ready for playoff contraction. We're going to go to-- we're going to go to three teams, Alabama, Ohio State, and the winner of Clemson-Notre Dame and just have them play round robin for three weeks. And if one team goes 2 and 0, they're the champion. If they all go 1 and 1, vote on it. Make it like the old days with the AP-- you know, AP champion is this, and the Amway USA Today champion is that, and that's what we got because I don't know who the fourth team is, man.
I mean, my list of potential contenders for the fourth spot-- Pac-12 champion. They haven't even played a game yet, so we have no idea. Cincinnati, who really has played very well-- is playing better and better, as a matter of fact, and I think could present a pretty compelling case. The BYU-Boise winner, if they go on to keep winning against what would not be that difficult a schedule for either one. The Georgia-Florida winner, but if Alabama gets there, you want a second SEC team? The more likely would be Texas A&M--
DAN WETZEL: Right.
PAT FORDE: --which has already beaten Florida, or the Big Ten runner-up. If you're ready for Wisconsin, Northwestern, or Purdue in the playoff, bring it on.
PETE THAMEL: I think it's an interesting discussion to, like, pivot off who's number four is like how far are the top three going away from the rest of the sport? Does that make sense? Like, we're really at a point where that fissure between Clemson, Ohio State, and Alabama is continuing to grow.
It's hard going forward when you look at the way rosters are set up, you look at the way recruiting's going to not think that these three are, you know, jumping ahead. I mean, look how far LSU has fallen. How about this? LSU lost, like, 48 to 11. They were down 48 to 3 for most of the day, and, like, we haven't even talked about it because--
DAN WETZEL: We already fired Coach O three times this season.
PAT FORDE: Yeah. Yeah. We fired him-- I've turned him into Gene Chizik. You've fired him. I mean, we've run over that body.
PETE THAMEL: Yeah, but that's the point is it is hard to build a juggernaut like that and keep it there year to year to year. And certainly teams can threaten them, but I really feel like now we're getting at a point where those three programs are looking a lot different than everybody else.
DAN WETZEL: I have been saying that they need to expand the playoff to help with recruiting.
PAT FORDE: Yeah. It would.
DAN WETZEL: I think the more playoff spot you have and the fact that, like, the Big 12 is now obsolete for the rest of their season, that's not good for the Big 12. If you can still win the conference and get a playoff spot and it's this type of year when maybe a Kansas State or something wins the league and gets in a playoff would be a huge boon in helping try to spread that out. Will it-- does that-- I'm not saying Kansas State's going to beat Alabama for recruits, but maybe they win a recruit. You've got to do something.
It's the same three, four teams in the playoff every year. Why would you go somewhere else if you're a great player? There's nobody in the Midwest that can compete with Ohio State right now. Notre Dame can get an equally good player both of them want if the kid went to a Catholic school. Other than that, they ain't beating them. Michigan's maybe going to beat them on a kid from Detroit. I mean, that's it. Ohio State's getting everybody they want.
And so that's not good, and so you need a bigger playoff where you have more teams in, more conferences. That's what I think because this is not going well. This is a poorly designed playoff. I've always said this. I gave it time to give it a shot, but you had people who created a playoff who did not want to create a playoff.
PAT FORDE: Right.
DAN WETZEL: They went kicking and screaming into how to design a playoff, so they created this abomination. It's a playoff. It's better than what we had, but it's not a good playoff.
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