The current College Football Playoff four-team format is contracted for the next ten years. While it is unlikely that fans will get to see more teams join in on the national championship fun before the current contract is up, there is still a slight chance that it can happen.
The athletic director of the Baylor Bears is on the side of the fence that believes expansion will happen and it is sooner than a lot of people believe.
SI.com reported that Ian McCaw believes the College Football Playoff will expand by the 2020 season. This date is just six years before the current contract is up and McCaw says that eight teams would be best for the national championship playoff.
“I think we’ll get there,” McCaw told ESPN on Wednesday. “Once we get there, we’ll say, ‘Why didn’t we do this from day one?’ I would think within five years would be my hope.”
This may just be sour grapes coming from McCaw seeing as how his team was the one conference champion left out of the final four last season. However, he gives good reason as to why eight teams would make the most sense.
“If you’re [No.] 9 or 10, it’s hard to argue you should be national champion,” McCaw said. “But right now, if you’re No. 5, and you’re a conference champion, and you get left out, you can make a pretty good argument that you could have done what Ohio State did last year and win a national championship.”
Looking at the final rankings before the college football bowl season began, Baylor would have joined TCU, Mississippi State, and Michigan State if there was an eight-team playoff last season.
There is reason to argue why Michigan State shouldn’t have been in talks for the national championship after Ohio State destroyed them in the Big Ten Championship game 59-0, but the Spartans turned around and beat Baylor in the Cotton Bowl.
Mississippi State didn’t win the SEC West, but they were ranked number one in the nation for seven weeks last season, they would have had a good argument for being in an eight-team playoff. That is until Georgia Tech beat up on them in the Orange Bowl.
TCU is the only team in the “bottom four” that would have had the best argument for not only having an eight-team playoff, but being in the inaugural CFP last season. The Horned Frogs went 12-1 last season and won the final eight games of the year. Unfortunately, the one loss was to Baylor, which gave them the outright Big 12 championship. Had they not lost that game, we wouldn’t even be talking about who Cardale Jones is today.
Maybe the McCaw will begin a petition for the CFP to be expanded. Honestly, the first thing he should do is petition his own conference to add two more teams to the conference that way they can field a conference championship game and crown a true champion.
That may or may not have gotten the Big 12 into the national championship race and left out the Big Ten, but at least we would have known who the true conference champion was.
When and if the CFP is expanded, it may be for the best for both teams and fans. Until then, teams are just going to have to prove that they belong in the hunt for the trophy. Yes, that includes your Bears, McCaw.
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*Featured Photo (above) credit to Forbes
