Since its advent season back in 2014, the College Football Playoff has featured the four very best teams in college football as selected by a committee, and they play it out to win a national championship. Arguably, it has been one of the best things that has happened to college football because it replaced the atrocious BCS system that dictated the championship for over a decade. With a new system comes critiques from the best sportswriters in the nation. Some suggest an eight-team playoff, while others suggest keeping the four-team system going. I agree with having four teams in the playoff, and here are a couple of reasons why the four-team playoff is better.

First, it makes the regular season and the conference championship matter even more. For example, back in November of 2016 when #2 Ohio State faced #3 Michigan in Columbus, both teams were 10-1, and whoever would lose this game would not have a shot at being in the College Football Playoff or have a berth in the Big Ten Championship. After arguably one of the worst calls I have ever seen in the second overtime, Ohio State went on to win as Michigan traveled home with nothing to show of its efforts of becoming a first-time College Football Playoff team. This is a great example because it essentially makes those tough regular-season matchups a “playoff game,” if you would like to call it that. Now, with conference championships, it makes those games even tougher because, for one, they are playing on a neutral field, and two, you are facing the best competition from that conference. 

However, there will always be one Power 5 conference champion that will be left out of the College Football Playoff. Usually, it is from the PAC-12 because of the lack of great teams in that conference. With the best team being Oregon, they have only dawned on the playoff once back in its inaugural season in 2014. Ever since then, the conference has only come close to returning to primetime once back in 2019. With this, it motivates Oregon, and a lot of other teams, to play harder like every game is a playoff game to ensure a postseason berth.

Next, the current College Football Playoff system arguably shows the best teams in the nation fighting it out for hopes of a national championship. A committee full of some of college football’s best analysts, former coaches, and athletic directors is chosen every year by the NCAA to choose the rankings every week after week seven and eventually who will be in the College Football Playoff that year. They pick the top four seeds, with the first playing the fourth and the second playing the third. Arguably, this is a tough task for the fourth seed, but we have seen teams prevail under the fourth seed like the 2014 Ohio State team and the 2018 Alabama team, who both won it all in their respective seasons. Even though some people would say that an eight-team playoff would give more opportunities for lower seed opponents, I think that the four teams that get into the playoff should get in because they performed the best of everyone that year, and we should see the best teams play on the biggest stage of the college football season.

Lastly, it gives us a lot more college football to watch. Compared to the old BCS system, the National Championship used to be on New Year’s Day, but now, the semifinal games are played somewhere around New Year’s Eve, or even on New Year’s Day, with the National Championship usually taking place around a week later; this extends the college football excitement for another seven days or more. Excluding the playoff, there is still a plethora of other bowl games to watch as well, making New Year’s a great time for postseason football in all levels of football.

These are some of the key reasons why I think the existing College Football Playoff system should not be adjusted, and coming from a diehard Michigan Wolverines fan, this list almost seems super generous to that team down south. 

Check out Joe’s story on why the CFP should expand to eight teams, and Mac’s on why it should go to 16!

Should the College Football Playoff be expanded to eight teams?

Why the College Football Playoff committee should change to a 16-team format