ESPN: Playoff expansion is inevitable

[BillySee58]

No they weren't. They were both in the old Big East I believe.

Yup. Which was an AQ conference.

[Mean Green 93-98]

I know 12 game schedules and championship games are relatively new, but they are fixtures at this point. All the P5 conferences but the Big 12 have conf championship games, and they used to and likely will expand to 12 again soon to have one of their own again. More than 3 rounds would put the champion at 17 games played. That's just too much IMO and unnecessary. Again, that's my opinion.

Even a 4-team playoff is changing many hallowed fixtures of college football, some far more sacred than 12 game seasons or conference championship games. So go back to 11-game seasons and no conference championship games. Or even an 11 game season with a conference championship game would put it at 16 games for the national champion.

You have to understand--an 8-team playoff would never include North Texas, regardless of what we did.

[ragpicker]

Yep, let's extend the football season by expanding the number of playoff teams. And the same people are concerned about concussions in football?

Not to mention student athletes and finals and all that. What a ration of hypocritical garbage. Good news - we are getting a baseball team and playoffs are in the summer. Why don't the colleges just go ahead and sell their football teams to Jerry Jones and the other owners and let them run their own farm teams? Of course, that would be the honest and ethical thing to do and money got in the way of honest and ethical when it comes to college football a long time ago.

[CMJ]

Just curious . . . when is the last time a non-P5 (or non-P6) school would have made it into a field of eight?

Not last year.

Not in 2012.

Maybe in 2011?

Not in 2010.

It looks like 2009, when the Mountain West's TCU and the WAC's Boise State (I think that's right) both had a great year and met in a BCS bowl.

As I noted previously, the undefeated 2006 Boise State team would not have made a field of eight.

And a C-USA team would have a harder time making it at this point than TCU and Boise State did.

Don't get me wrong . . . I like eight much better than four. But I really don't see a non-P5 team making it into a field of 8 more than maybe once every 10 years or so.

Just to clarify...TCU was still in the MWC in 2010 -- so they would have gotten in.

[Mean Green 93-98]

Just to clarify...TCU was still in the MWC in 2010 -- so they would have gotten in.

I missed that--thanks for pointing that one out.

[Ben Gooding]

Yup. Which was an AQ conference.

Yeah, they were the red-headed stepchild. That's what the old Big East was in terms of football. No one gave that conference respect, I actually totally forgot they were a "P5" conference being an example.