I have seen and heard a lot of debate about how the National Championship is just the SEC Championship round #2 and this is why we need to expand the playoffs from 4 teams to 12 or 16.
As football fans, you are not wrong, we already watched this game once this year and Georgia got destroyed.
What will make this time any different? Will Bama just light them up again?
The question I throw back to all the naysayers is who would you rather see play for the title?
Would any other top 25 program have a shot to beat these two juggernauts?
Alabama and Georgia both go in to the game with 13-1 records and have collectively defeated the #2 and #4 teams in the country. Who is more deserving to play in this game?
Ohio State who sits at 2 losses? If you recall, The Ohio State University lost to Oregon who finished the year 10-4 as well as Michigan who got absolutely demolished by Georgia.
Does Notre Dame deserve another CFP appearance? Didn’t they lose to Cincinnati who went on to get lit up like the drunk uncle at Christmas by Alabama. PS: if your family doesn’t have the drunken uncle/relative, then odds are you are that guy!
Baylor seemed more legitimate to me than Cincinnati, but I do not think they would have been able to beat Alabama. Baylor was able to beat Ole Miss 21-7; however, Ole Miss’s stud QB, Matt Corral, fell to an injury early in the game. On top of that Ole Miss got blown out by Bama 42-21 with Corral starting at QB. So, I do not think Baylor would have been able to do much against Bama.
My only point in bringing this up is that I do not think there are 2 better teams in the country right now than Alabama and Georgia.
However, why would I be arguing for expanding upon the playoff format?
Do I still think Georgia and Bama would have walked through every team in the top 25? Yes!
So why would I want to see the CFP expanded?
I am a firm believer that a 12 or 16 team playoff make things more interesting even though it would end up with the same two teams competing in the championship.
In my opinion, the biggest advantage of expanding the college football playoff would be to get more players to actually play in these games and not opt-out to focus on the upcoming NFL draft.
A perfect example is the Pitt vs Michigan State game. Both Kenny Pickett and Kenny Walker III opted out for their respective team. These were 2 guys who were looked at for the Heisman and without a doubt the best players on their teams. Instead of seeing a good game, you got a back up QB against a team whose only offense came from their Heisman caliber RB. It wasn’t even worth watching.
As mentioned, I do not think either of these teams would have been able to beat Georgia or Bama; however, that would have been a more interesting game to watch assuming Pickett and Walker would have played in it and made an attempt to go on a playoff run. And who knows, maybe Pickett could get hot and lead Pitt to an upset win. Upsets are not that uncommon, especially at the collegiate level.
Additionally, how many times do you get excited to watch your team play in a bowl game only to find out that the top players from both sides decided not to play because they don’t want to get injured before the NFL draft? As an NC State fan, this happens to me more often than not!
While I do not want another repeat of what happened to Jake Butt from Michigan, I would like to see a few of these bowl games matter a bit more. I would like to watch a game and see both teams with a full line up versus listening to who is not playing and where the announcer thinks they will go in the draft.
Furthermore, as a football fan who values the collegiate game more than the professional, I would love a few more weeks of college ball before we get left with the overpaid, crybabies in the NFL!
A very spiteful added bonus for me personally is that it would show the Group of 5 Schools, like Cincinnati and UCF, where they really rank in college football (and that UCF did not win the 2017 National Championship despite what their moronic fans claim) versus the big boys and real football programs.
In summary, while I think expanding the CFP would not lead to different teams competing for the national championship, I do believe it would give us much more interesting games and we would not see the same number of players opting out for the NFL draft.