As college football transitioned to a 12-team playoff, it has provided increased opportunities for all schools but also still has room for improvement in terms of seeding.
In 2014, NCAA college football began utilizing a four-team playoff to determine the national champion. While the four-team playoff was successful, it also left many other deserving teams out of it as fans debated who was snubbed year after year.
In an attempt to overcome these yearly debates, the playoffs expanded to 12 teams in an effort to give teams the opportunity to win a national championship.
Nebraska University head coach Matt Rhule described the College Football Playoff as being the “NFL of college football.”
The expansion to teams has largely been positive as it gives teams from smaller conferences, such as Boise State University in the Mountain West Conference, the chance to earn their way in.
Boise State, led by Heisman trophy runner-up Ashton Jeanty, went 12-2 before losing to Penn State University. Despite their loss to Penn State, Boise State was able to gain more notoriety in part due to the increased parity that the 12-team playoff encourages between conferences.
While the expanded playoff does provide smaller teams the opportunity to gain recognition on a larger scale, the playoff can still be improved.
This year, the four highest-ranked conference champions earned a first round bye. Oregon University, Georgia University, Boise State and Arizona State University were all given first round byes. In the future, the first round byes should instead be given to the four highest ranked teams to allow for a more balanced field.
This year’s playoff has seen the four highest seeds all lose their quarterfinal games, and many of the games overall have been one sided. Allowing the four highest ranked teams to have first round byes would not only provide a more balanced field, but would also give viewers better matchups as the tournament progresses.
In the current evolution of the College Football Playoff, Notre Dame and Ohio State University both punched their tickets to the national championship Jan. 10 as Notre Dame beat Penn State 27-24 and Ohio State beat Texas University 28-14.
Notre Dame relied on a late interception by defensive back Christian Gray on Penn State quarterback Drew Allar that resulted in a game winning field goal by Mitch Jeter to punch the Fighting Irish’s ticket to the national championship.
“Just catch the ball. Just catch the ball,” Gray said about his interception. “That was going through my mind, and I knew I was going to make a play.”
Another key defensive play helped settle the latter semifinal game. As Texas drove down the field and trailed by a touchdown, Ohio State was in need of a critical stop to keep their season alive. As Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers dropped back to pass on fourth and goal, Ohio State knocked the ball loose before returning the fumble 83 yards to put the game on ice for the Buckeyes.
“I saw the ball pop out right to me after I tackled him,” Sawyer said. “I was just thinking, I’ve got to stay on my feet because I almost blacked out when I scooped it and saw a bunch of green grass ahead of me.”
While the expanded College Football Playoff is not without its flaws, it still has provided for increased parity among the conferences and has raised the stakes throughout the season.
