DTOW

September 30th, 2020 at 4:22 PM ^

I'm conflicted.  On one hand it seems like expanding the playoffs this year is a dumb idea.  I'm all for playing if they can safely do so but adding games during a pandemic seems like it could be a PR headache that they probably just wouldn't want to deal with.  On the flip side, most people want playoff expansion anyways so it could have been an easy excuse to give it a dry run and see how it goes.

GoBlueBill

September 30th, 2020 at 4:22 PM ^

This would have been a great season to give this a go .  Its going to be tougher than normal to find out which teams belong in the conversation, due to the difference in games played .

MichCali

September 30th, 2020 at 5:00 PM ^

To be fair to the PAC, it wasn't really safe when they were holding out.  Something like 35% of games have been canceled or postponed so far in conferences that are playing.  It will probably be safer months down the road as we gain knowledge and testing capabilities, which is when the playoff would be held.

8.4.3

michengin87

September 30th, 2020 at 8:19 PM ^

That's a good point, but how many times has there been legitimate controversy over who should have been the 4th seed?  With so little inter-conference play, maybe the wrong team has gotten added which resulted in the blowouts.

I've always been a fan of 8.  It would ensure that every P5 conference is represented as well as a couple of wild cards.

Mpfnfu Ford

September 30th, 2020 at 10:25 PM ^

In this season when the probability is we won't have much clarity on who is actually good? Who knows what will happen. We might end up with a 2 loss Big Ten champion who were missing stars due to Covid in one or both games going up for a playoff spot against an undefeated Pac 12 champion that played 6 games. You sure who deserves to go in that scenario? I'm not.

Also the logic of going to 8 in the future is about making sure the best non-power 5 has a chance to play for a title, and I have a feeling if you look back over the last 20 years, there's a lot of Boise States and UCF's and TCU's that would have done a lot better in the playoffs than OU has the past few years. I'm willing to put up with an auto bid Pac 12 team getting destroyed if it means we get to see, I dunno, BYU beat the pants off an over confident Notre Dame some year. 

Blue Vet

September 30th, 2020 at 4:59 PM ^

With the Steelers-Titans cancelled, it seems strange to suggest adding games, even if only a few, when it's not clear a full college football season will be played. At least not when focusing on the safety of players.

MGoStrength

September 30th, 2020 at 6:13 PM ^

Not surprising.  Also doesn't mean CFP won't expand to 8 before the end of the current contract.  My hunch is it will take a few more years to push through and it will expand 1-2 years before the contract expires, but who knows.

WorldwideTJRob

September 30th, 2020 at 6:26 PM ^

It’s smart to do it this season, the NHL/MLB had this same thought. With minimal games to evaluate, expand the postseason to accommodate teams who may be too close to pick between. Will Miami’s potential 10-1 record be better than Oregon’s possible 8-0 mark? As far as people mentioning the possibility of more games being problematic...do what the pro leagues have done! Send the 8 teams to a bubble type environment. 4 teams in one location and 4 teams to another location(Glendale & Pasadena for example). That way it’ll be easier to mitigate the risk of potential issues w/ COVID.

BoFan

September 30th, 2020 at 7:12 PM ^

I didn’t read the article but with the shorter schedules, the lack of inter conferences games, and the potential log jam of teams at the top it makes perfect sense to go to 8 teams this year 

Mpfnfu Ford

September 30th, 2020 at 10:35 PM ^

I mean, it's going to happen eventually. There's only so many years the Big 10/Big 12 can put up with seeing Clemson get an autobid to the playoff because they happen to be in a league that's sub Pac 12 level aside from Clemson. "Hey wait a minute, we have to go down to the wire to secure a playoff spot because our league ISN'T total shit aside from one standard bearing team? Why don't we just make sure whoever wins our league gets an autobid no matter how the season turns out?" isn't a difficult argument to make.