Imagine this, your team just went 12-0 and then beat a power 5 school who beat the national champions. After all of this, you don’t get a chance in the college football playoffs. Instead a 1 loss Alabama makes it in instead. The set up right now with having to choose the top 4 teams in the country is just too difficult and it isn’t working. In my opinion, and a lot of other people's opinion, the 4 best teams aren’t getting put into the playoffs, and therefore don’t have a shot at the national title. What’s the best way to change that? By making more teams in the playoffs.
If we put 8 teams in the playoff instead of just four, then it would be more fair. The level of competition would be higher, and it would simply be more entertaining for fans. A team like Alabama has always been able to get in with just one loss, heck they might make it again this year, but a team like UCF who went undefeated, wasn’t put in. They then went and beat the team that beat Alabama and showed the world something. An 8 team playoff would help change this. That’s enough for a team like UCF to get in. These kind of teams put in just as much work as the power 5 schools, but almost never get rewarded with it by being in the playoffs. In an article done by Bleacher report, they said “With only four teams earning access to the new playoff system, and a selection committee of college football's elite making the cuts, you can rest assured that the Boise States of the college football world will continue to be the victims of college football elitism.” If we changed the playoff to 8 teams, that would make sure that all the teams like this can make it and show that they belong. It would also help shut up their whiny fan base which we can all agree on.
People would argue that a team like UCF plays in a horrible division so it’s easy to go undefeated. I don’t care what conference you play in, it is hard to beat every team on your schedule. Other than Ohio State and LSU, all other big schools have lost at least once. UCF went and beat Auburn in the Peach Bowl in 2016 after going undefeated. This isn’t the only case as well of when this has happened. USA Today said in an article, “But finishing with an undefeated record is nearly impossible for teams — whether they’re in the AAC or SEC — and should be rewarded with more than a pat on the back.” No matter what conference teams play in, they should have a chance being in the college football playoff. If we made it an 8 team playoff, we could still have the solid Big Ten and SEC teams, and also have those undefeated teams from the AAC or the one loss team from the Pac 12. That would make it much more fair.
Another reason could be the money profited off of this. I get that it costs money to put on a game, but imagine all the flow of money that could come in. We don’t necessarily have to make the extra games into a bowl game, instead let the higher seeds have a home game. Fans would be so insane and it would make the game even more entertaining for fans. It could also increase the chances of upsets happening in the playoffs, which I know any fan of college football loves to see. According to an article done by Mark Groza, he said, “The NCAA’s Football Bowl Subdivision, or FBS, consists of the nations most competitive and profitable football teams.” So I don’t think the NCAA needs to worry about continuing to make money, but rather they should acknowledge that they will still probably make a lot of money.
There are a lot of reasons why this should be changed, but this is the last one I’m going to talk about. If we changed to an 8 team playoff, it would take pressure off of the committee and make fans happier. For the playoffs, the committee has to choose the four best teams in all of college football. I know 8 teams still isn’t a lot, but it’s twice as many, and gives them a little more leeway when it comes to choosing who to put in the playoffs. It makes sure that every team did what they have to do to get there, gets there. Former CBS sports president Neal Pilson said in an interview, “But I've always believed that the eight-team format is better than the four. I think they'll get there.” A lot of very highly and recognized sports people already think this should happen. If we change it to an 8 team playoff, that will make sure the committee has more opportunities to get the best teams in there, and hopefully make all of those complaining fans happy.
So yes, I think that we should change the college football playoff from a four team bracket to eight teams bracket. It would be better for college football, take pressure off the people that choose the best teams in college football, and it makes sure that every team that should be there, will be there. College football is the most exciting sport in America, and if we changed this, that would just add to the extreme excitement of college football.
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