Mark Richt thinks the playoff field for college football should be greatly expanded.
The belief right now is that expansion is inevitable, but probably won’t happen for at least a few more years. However, the former Georgia and Miami coach recently offered one of the boldest suggestions that we’ve ever heard. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
Richt said the following during a Monday interview with Paul Finebaum, according to 247Sports:
Here’s the thing. You’ve got everybody opting out of bowl games now, and I know COVID had a big part in it. But I think Pandora’s box got opened. I think a lot more kids are going to opt out of bowls and you may see more teams opt out of bowl games. So, if people say, ‘These games are not meaningful anymore in the postseason other than the four (playoff) teams, or maybe you go to 32 teams and every game is a playoff game, but the bowl system handles those games, so the bowls can still survive.’ But now, every game would be meaningful because it’s part of a playoff. That’s a big chunk of games, but that may be what it takes to make the postseason work again.
I’m all for expansion, but college football isn’t March Madness. The whole point of college football is that every single game is supposed to matter a ton.
If the field expands to 32 teams, then you’re going to probably start seeing 8-4 or maybe even 7-5 teams with a shot to win the national title.
That’s just absurd.
NEWS: The College Football Playoff management committee met remotely this week.
Details on the meeting » https://t.co/FOPFyJ5pKq#CFBPlayoff ???????? pic.twitter.com/HDB45YEdL6
— College Football Playoff (@CFBPlayoff) April 23, 2021
Expand the playoff to eight teams, give the P5 conference champions autobids, have three at-large bids and figure out a system for an undefeated G5 team to get in.
This doesn’t have to be hard. It’s just college football. There’s no reason to us to not know how to do this.
Don’t go to 32 teams. Cap it at eight and let’s roll. It’s what the fans want and it’s what fans deserve.