In recent history, the college football postseason has consisted of low effort bowl games and sad national championships with blowouts, repeat winners and unfortunate teams. The main cause, the four team playoff setup.
Fortunately enough, 2024-25 brings a new format involving 12 teams that have the opportunity to play for the national championship. This gives more teams the opportunity to fight for the championship and will stop high draft stock players from sitting out and creating poor games.
This past season showed the worst with the biggest playoff snub in history. The College Football Playoff (CFP) Committee, who selects the four lucky teams that make the playoffs, left out Florida State. Now Florida State was one of the three undefeated teams left and were a conference champ which fits the criteria for the playoffs. Their problem was that they showed poor performances in their last 2 games due to their best quarterback being out for the season. Their snubbing created uproar in college football, showing that the four team playoffs is an unfair concept.
In the 2023 National Championship, the Georgia Bulldogs blew out the TCU Horned Frogs 65-7 making it the worst championship in CFP history. TCU had played little competition all season and was not a championship ready team. Having the 12 team playoff would have added a challenge to them, possibly kicking them out early to provide a better team for the championship game.
Outside of the playoff bowl games, the New Year’s six bowls have had some disappointing performances. The teams involved generally have NFL ready players that would sit out to avoid injury and prepare for the upcoming draft. On top of this, players are able to transfer out completely before these games start. Ohio State’s starting quarterback Kyle McCord is a great example of this. McCord entered what is called the transfer portal after the regular season, picked a school and fully left before Ohio State played their bowl game on December 29. This left Ohio State with a backup and a poor offensive performance in the game. Elite players sitting out provide a backup filled game that nobody wants to watch.
The 12 team playoff changes this problem. It allows 12 teams to play for the chance in the national championship, making the new year’s six games something you want to play your best in. It also gives a chance for a lower seeded team to win it all which has not been able to happen in college football history. There can still be playoff snubs in the 12-14 spots but it is less likely that a 12 seed will win it all making it less of a deal.
The 2024-25 season is definitely going to be a better season and a more entertaining playoffs to watch. The question is, who’s going to be in?
