Originally published at: Mike Gundy's College Football Playoff Expansion Take Might Surprise You | Pistols Firing
Will an expanded CFP model change the outcome?
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“But my point being is the reason college football is a hot commodity and it’s a great stock right now is because every game matters in college football,”
Except that’s not entirely true. A team can go undefeated and still not be able to play for a natty. So do their games truly matter?
As for the non-conference schedule, I think having an expanded playoff will lead to better non-con games because their won’t be as big of a penalty for losing.
Another benefit will be that more conference championship games will have more importance. Even if both teams will probably get in, the loser will have to play an extra game as opposed to possibly having a 1st round bye.
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I usually agree with Gundy’s big picture views but not this one. He is comparing a 64 team March madness to the football playoff of just 12 teams which itself is not correct. Football Teams don’t play 30 games or whatever… so lessor number of games decide your final rank to qualify for the playoffs which means fans will skip early season games as Gundy fears. All games do matter as you need to win enough games to make the conference championship to get the automatic berth and then be ranked high enough to be one of the next 8 or so teams. The main reason for the 12 team playoffs is money plus keeping the national picture relevant in a world where two conferences otherwise could just dominate the playoffs (this may also be to avoid the federal government come in and break up the big powerful conferences). This is the point that Gundy is not addressing. If the playoffs did not expand, you could have an SEC champ, Big 10 champ and potentially the runner ups of each of those conferences or the ones that missed out on the championship game take up the 3rd and 4th slots every year. A one loss champion from the BIg 12 would not have played Texas and OU and similarly a one loss champion from the Pac12 would not have played USC or UCLA and would be considered inferior to those SEC and Big 10 teams. Perhaps Clemson may have a ticket due to their Blue Blood pedigree and that is it. So a 12 team playoff enhances the game from a national perspective creating more money for everyone, creates opportunities for smaller conferences to shine and protects the 2 big conferences from being attacked by the Feds.
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I disagree with you there coach. If we could make the 12 team playoffs frequently that is more money for our school, building brand, and better consistent talent. You made it to the playoffs and got to see variety. Last year I would have loved to see Baylor and OSU make it deep. Give the fans what they want and money follows. There are plenty of good 1&2 loss teams due to injury or whatever reason. This is good for college football cause I’ll still watch every game.
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I think he might have a point in the longer term. The current playoff system is already causing a slow deterioration in the value of “the rest” of the bowl games.
I suppose we could organize the rest of the bowls into a second tier…we could call it the "Not Important Tournament " (or NIT for short 
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I like the idea of expanding it. Not sure the 12 team format is best. I can say this, if you have any doubts on Gundy’s ability to be a forward thinker… you should re-evaluate it. He has been ahead numerous times before changes were made.
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I saw somewhere on ESPN where one their writers proposed moving some of the bowl games to the beginning of the season. It’s not a bad idea.
Is there another playoff format that you prefer? Just curious.
Typical Gumby response. Skurred to take his team to a higher place. Only NCAA sport that doesn’t actually determine its champion on the field of play that doesn’t have a LOT of POLITICS involved. Most of the bowl games are a joke, but they can use more of those for playoff games. Since we’ve been in zerO playoffs and Mike doesn’t want it expanded, what.does.that.say.about.him.???
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Can’t disagree more. Not many fans are going to go to bowl games at beginning of the season. All.that.travel. Can use some of the bowl games for playoff games, it’s really NOT that difficult.
@kspokesfan Doesn’t your first sentence conflict with the rest of what you wrote? “I can say this, if you have any doubts on Gundy’s ability to be a forward thinker… you should re-evaluate it. He has been ahead numerous times before changes were made.” — He’s wrong here, and thinking too conservatively. He know$ money is changing the game, duh!, look at all the teams changing conferences. Yet he is opposed to expanding number of playoff teams? Doe$n’t make any $en$e. Backward thinker here, $orry.
It sounded like he was opposed to the12 teams format.
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@teatown going to have to disagree that politics don’t play a part in playoffs. 2011 team deserved to be in that year when you consider they plane crash. I’ve heard too many players say it affected them that night. Alabama and LSU had already had a round with each other. If not a BB Bama would have been left out. Saban spent 3 days politicking to make the top two
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He knows that if his team gets to the top 12 every couple of years he’s going to be expected to keep that new standard instead of being able to keep the status quo. He would be forced to recruit better players. He would be forced to answer tougher questions. The excuses start to dwindle down because he’s forced to do so.
Once that happens (coupled with the new administration that supposedly supports him as he stated) he will be expected to hit that new standard (which is most likely 10 wins or better) on an almost annual basis. He knows the days of being the state’s biggest payroll bandit are going to come to a screeching halt. He’ll actually have to work for what he’s being paid in the future.
The boosters will no longer hear excuses for not being in the Top 12. The fans with common sense won’t hear it either. It’s coming to a point where Gundy either has to put up or shut up. I’m also willing to bet that the “coaching past 65” philosophy is currently being reviewed by Gundy as well.
So no, Gundy’s comments don’t surprise me at all. Because, unlike some of our fans, I can tell what he’s thinking based on his comments and his history with the program. The “top 10 in wins!!!” argument will also fade away if he continuously proves he can’t make a 12 team playoff.
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I don’t like the 6 automatic qualifying champions. I think it should be 5, after USC and UCLA going to the Big 10 and the best AAC teams coming to the Big 12 there’s not 6 conference champions deserving to automatically qualify in my opinion. But he is right, there aren’t 12 teams that can legitimately compete for a championship. I like it for OSU because it’s easier to get in and I’ll take that and I think fans will love it and it will be a huge tv success. But I think 8 is probably the best number to keep the highest quality teams in it with a legitimate chance to win while giving every conference champ an opportunity.
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Yea he didn’t say it but it sounds like he, HCMG, could be in favor of a playoff consisting of something less than 12 teams. The main point he was making though which was missed by a lot of folks and that is the decision to expand the playoffs was primarily driven by one thing, money. That’s a pretty narrow focus. Without giving the big picture a hard look when making such a decision can likely result in some significant negative unintended consequences of which HCMG mentioned a few of the possibilities.
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Joy again a bunch of blah blah, …. Payroll bandits 
so I guess every head coach is stealing ? You are a buffoon. It’s in line with “top ten wins” isn’t it 
. You truly think there are 12 teams that can win the championship ? That shows what an idiot you’re…. Gundy isn’t isn’t close to getting his seat hot. Keep on crying
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Can you give me an example of that, other than UCF?
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Find someone better willing to come here. I don’t get you people! Should’ve gone to school here when Pat Jones was running the show.
We’re maxed out HC wise.
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Still zero conference titles since 2011 though.
I don’t think 12 teams could win the championship, but I do think being a part of a group of 12 is better than being a part of the group of 68 that still play in the postseason. It would push OSU to the point of more money and better recruiting (the two things you and Roberto constantly biotch about we can’t get or don’t have).
Unless you’re not interested in being a part of that group? Which given your constant excuses for Gundy and yourselves, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit. As long as it’s not 1971 OSU, right?
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You have to be willing to try first.