February is the perfect month for football pundits to discuss things that may never happen.
Signing day has passed and spring practice has yet to start for most, meaning there’s time for guys like ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit to get theoretical about the future of the game.
Herbstreit did just that during a recent interview on SiriusXM Radio, part of which was transcribed by our friends at CoachingSearch.com.
One of the topics of discussion was the College Football Playoff.
Herbstreit told College Sports Nation that he used to be a guy that thought the CFP would eventually expand to eight teams from its current four-team format, but now he seems less sure.
He explained that there seems to be a handful of teams that have won 10-plus games and a significant bowl game only to have their fans still disappointed that the team was not selected for the playoff, and he thinks it is bad for business in the long-term to have fans walking away from seasons like that with a bad taste in their mouths.
Teams like Baylor and TCU come to mind from recent seasons.
Herbstreit says if you have that problem with a four-team playoff, it only gets worse when you start competing for eight spots.
“Can you imagine, if it was eight, how that would create? Fans call it a meaningless bowl game. I could not disagree with that any more. Any time the Big Ten plays in a bowl game, to me, that’s significant. Any time the SEC and Big Ten play each other, I don’t care if it’s the Outback Bowl or Gator Bowl, I find those matchups interesting and important to the conferences and their pride.
“I’m a little concerned, even at four, that we’re getting to the focus of playoff-or-bust. If it went to eight, I think it would get worse, where the only games that ‘matter’ to people are if you made the playoff. I don’t think that’s healthy for the game of football when the only thing that matters if your team is successful if they make the playoff.”
Herbstreit makes a valid point.
The question becomes– do we believe that those in charge of making these decisions will be doing so with the fan experience as the top priority?
Because there are many other factors that go into an eight-team playoff, including academics, additional bowl realignments and television contracts.
All of which present a unique challenge to any potential change to the current format.
You can read more of the Herbstreit interview here.
Nick Cole is a former print journalist with several years of experience covering the SEC. Born and raised in SEC country, he has taken in the game-day experience at all 14 stadiums.
