On this gloriously American day of Thanksgiving, let’s appreciate the Playoff we have while looking forward to the unprecedented future of the postseason.

Let’s all come together as one happy family and agree that college football is in much better hands with a 12-team Playoff beginning in 2024. Forget about the crazy aunt who’s never happy with anything and always blaming someone.

I’m here to prove to all that 12 is greater than 4. A philosophy we can all rally around.

Ladies and gentlemen, the 12 reasons a 12-team Playoff is better than a 4-team Playoff:

1. The obvious

The field expands from 4 teams to 12. More teams in the field, more Playoff games. More drama and excitement.

And before you start whining about the same 4 teams playing for it all anyway, look deeper, my friend.

In any tournament in any sport, teams get hot and make postseason runs. The Giants won the Super Bowl in 2011 after winning 9 games in the regular season. Four other Super Bowl champs went 10-6 — all in just the past 16 seasons. MLB expanded its playoff to include additional wild card teams in 2012. Since then, 4 wild-card teams have gone on to win the World Series, including the 2023 champion Texas Rangers, who beat Arizona in the 3rd all-wild-card World Series.

Just last season, Florida freaking Atlantic advanced to the Final Four in college basketball — and lost by a single point to San Diego State in the national semifinal.

Loyola-Chicago — for the love of James Naismith, Loyola-Chicago — made the Final Four in 2018. In the 2000s alone, Wichita State, VCU, Butler (twice!) and George Mason have advanced to the college basketball holy land. Butler reached back-to-back national title games.

Stop being so narrow-minded and expecting the elite of college football to roll through a larger tournament. Crazy things happening in tournament settings (more on this later).

2. The realistic field expands

The same 4 to 6 teams will make the semifinals, you say. What’s the difference?

Over the past 10 years, the argument could be made that a group of college football elite and a handful of others were the only realistic options for the Playoff. Every once in a while, you’ll have an outlier (see: Cincinnati) hit it big.

So when the season begins, about 10 to 12 teams will play games of significance in November. In the 12-team format, that field will triple.

Or quadruple.

Just look at college basketball. From 1964-74, UCLA won the NCAA Tournament 9 times in 11 years, never navigating more than a 25-team draw. The NCAA Tournament expanded initially to 32 teams in 1975, then to 48 and eventually to 68. UCLA has won it 2 times since the initial expansion and nobody has won more than 5 (UNC, Duke and UConn). Expansion creates parity and opportunity, which benefits the sport.

3. The best month of the season redefined

The sweet symphony of the November games to remember.

The moments that define the college game and the “every week matters” mantra. Guess what?

Now it matters even more.

Where there was once 10 to 12 teams playing critical games to advance to the 4-team model, you’ll have as many as 40-50 teams scrambling for Playoff seeding. November games will take on a completely different vibe.

Suddenly, 7-2 LSU vs. 7-2 Oklahoma takes on a whole new meaning. It’s not playing out the string, it’s for Playoff seeding.

4. Every game still matters

Gone are the days where 1 loss eliminates a team from winning a division or a conference. Or when 1 conference loss early in the season means a team is essentially 2 games behind in a division race — and all but left for dead with 2 months to play.

This is a good thing. The 12-team Playoff now extends the life of a season and allows for a bad week of preparation, or a bad game, or unthinkable turnover that changes everything.

It doesn’t mean there are no consequences for losses — the current beauty of the sport — it just means there’s less margin for error moving forward. Still a consequence, without the finality of one and done.

Or better yet, it moves the 1-and-done bar from now to later in the season.

5. There’s still drama off the field

For all those who love expansion drama, it’s not going away with the new Playoff.

Really, it’s not.

The Playoff executive committee is still working out a few, shall we say, problems, with the Pac-12.

It’s a long story, but if expansion leftovers Washington State and Oregon State gain control of the Pac-12 in court — after an appeal of a ruling that last week said they have control — they are still technically a conference that is part of the original 11 (Power 5, Group of 5, Notre Dame) that make procedural decisions about Playoff format.

The new 12-team Playoff that begins in 2024 is still working under the original contract until the new deal begins in 2026. The original contract clearly states that all 11 members must agree on format change.

That means Oregon State and Washington State have the power to block format change within the new 12-team Playoff.

Specifically, they can refuse to move off the agreed automatic bids for the top 6 conference champions. Because — and here’s the beauty of last week’s ruling — Oregon State and Washington State, by NCAA bylaws, can play as the Pac-12 conference for 2 years before needing to restructure.

Of course, the Playoff executive committee could guarantee a gift of sorts to Washington State and Oregon State — let’s say, I don’t know, straight cash — over the next 2 seasons to vote the way they need.

Remember, any format change must be unanimous.

You can’t declare that Michigan is eligible for the Playoff, per NCAA rules — then declare that Oregon State and Washington State aren’t eligible to continue as a voting member of the Playoff, despite NCAA rules that clearly state they are a conference for the next 2 years.

“It’s a definite pickle, no doubt,” an industry source told Saturday Down South. “They’ve put themselves in a difficult position with the Michigan ruling.”

6. Players aren’t bailing on the postseason

In the 4-team Playoff, players bolted on their teams if they weren’t part of the tournament.

There will still be players from teams that don’t advance to the Playoff leaving early and training for the NFL — and there’s nothing wrong with that — but at the very least, we’ll see more of the elite of the game at least 1 more time. And maybe more.

More Jayden Daniels is a good thing.

7. The anticipation increases

The Nos. 3-4 teams in the Playoff have been difficult decisions — and led to fabulous publicity — for many of the 10 Playoff seasons.

Now imagine an expanded field with more options, more difficult decisions in the 9-12 range. More arguments, more drama, more daily and weekly anticipation of games and specific matchups.

Basically, everything that’s currently unique about the college game — the sport of arguing — only better. Much, much better.

8. Campus Playoff games

Without a doubt, the greatest advantage of moving to 12 teams.

If you live for fall Saturdays and the majesty that is November games to remember on beautiful campuses across the college football landscape, imagine that and a Playoff game.

The pageantry and intensity will be unmatched. Frankly, all Playoff games should be campus games — with the exception of the national championship game.

Yeah, it’s more like the NFL. So what?

You can still have the bowl games, and they will still be an important part of the fabric of the game. For now, I’m good with the semifinals at bowl sites.

We’ll work on it, everyone.

9. The changing game

Let me say, unequivocally, college football is a better game than the NFL in every way imaginable.

But that doesn’t mean college football can’t learn from the NFL.

The player model already is shifting toward the NFL model, with NIL and free player movement — and eventually, revenue sharing for players. You may not like it, and it may not be your granddaddy’s college football, but it’s never going back.

You can stick your head in the sand and wither away — or you can evolve and grow and become something unique. There’s a reason college football has surpassed Major League Baseball, the NBA and NHL in viewership.

Don’t stop now.

10. Conference championships will mean even more

The complaint about expansion: Conference championships won’t mean anything.

Really, that’s what you’ve got? That’s your hill to stand on? As it stands, at least 1 Power 5 conference champion was guaranteed to be left out of the Playoff mix.

When I’m looking at this thing, getting hot and winning your Power 4 conference championship sure as heck will be not only be a ticket to the Playoff — but increase your seeding value.

Remember, under the current format for the next 2 years, the highest-ranked Power 5 conference champions have 1st-round byes. Beginning in 2026 with the new contract, that could go away if the format moves to 12 at-large selections.

But even under that format, conference champions will still play a significant role in who earns those critical byes — and who earns a spot in the Playoff.

11. The Jordan Travis effect

Florida State could win out and finish unbeaten in the regular season, and not be selected by the Playoff committee because of the loss of injured star quarterback Jordan Travis.

Right now, it’s the “4 best teams.” And that could lead the committee down this road: Is FSU without Travis better than teams with 1-loss resumes?

Michigan, Ohio State, Alabama, Georgia, Oregon and Washington could all finish the season with 1 loss. Does that mean FSU, without its star quarterback and clearly not the same team, gets a free pass because it is undefeated?

Moving forward, every unbeaten Power conference champion will make the 12-team Playoff — no matter the injury.

12. Crazy things happen in tournaments

Above all else, 12 teams means opportunities in 11 games for something funky to happen. And we all know the history of college football: When you least expect it, expect it.

Especially when all 12 teams have a chance to win a national title.

There’s also the unknown of what happens within the games. A player gets hot, and carries his team on a rare Playoff run. Or the quarterback for the No. 1-ranked team is injured in a quarterfinal game, and the entire tournament changes.

Or the quarterback throws 2 pick-6s, and a heavy underdog (hello, TCU) advances to the national championship game.

The perfectly imperfect world of tournament ball is the key to everything.

Embrace it and be thankful, everyone.

No matter what your crazy aunt is complaining about.