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CFP expansion talk

A long time ago – in a journalism galaxy far, far away – one of my go-to columns concerned the need for a major college football playoff. I started my daily newspaper career in 1987, and back then the mere mention of a postseason tourney was considered a mortal sin by the NCAA brain trust.

If memory serves, a lot of fans didn’t like the idea, either.

**Scott Adamson writes stuff. Follow him on Bluesky @scottadamson1960.bsky.social**

They were all-in on mythical championships awarded by votes from coaches and writers.

That same year – in early October – the NCAA Presidents Commission voted to oppose a Division 1-A (now Football Bowl Subdivision) playoff. University of Maryland chancellor John Slaughter said the idea was rejected because a postseason beyond bowl games would not be “in the best interest of intercollegiate athletics.”

Later that month, the Big Ten and Pac-10 jointly announced their opposition.

“The conferences are skeptical that a college football playoff is feasible,” Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen told the Associated Press. “It is hard to imagine how the logistics could be accomplished of moving fans and teams during the holiday period of December and early January. Also, a playoff would conflict with, rather than bridge, examination periods that occur during this time.

“We support the current bowl structure and appreciate their contributions to college football. We fear most bowls would be lost if a playoff of any nature was adopted.”

Yeah, yeah, yeah … whatever. In my mind, the championship should be determined on the field and my solution came in the form of a nice and tidy 16-team playoff.

Then there were nine D-1A conferences – the SEC, Big Ten, Pacific-10, Big Eight, Southwest, ACC, Western Athletic, Mid-American and Pacific Coast. So, champs of those leagues would earn an automatic playoff bid along with the top seven wildcard teams (based on rankings). The field would be seeded one through 16.

There were 18 bowl games in ‘87, and my plan incorporated 15 of them. The title game would be played in the Rose Bowl, the semi-finals in the Sugar and Orange, and the Cotton, Citrus, Gator and Fiesta Bowls would host the quarterfinals. I had the Peach, Sun, Hall of Fame, Astro-Bluebonnet, Holiday, Liberty, Freedom and Independence hosting first round games.

That was before the internet, so people who thought my idea was stupid had to either call me and tell me that, or contact me through snail mail. And since our antiquated phone system didn’t yet have caller ID, readers could insult me anonymously.

Sometimes I actually miss being called a dumbass via landline.

Anyway, here we are in 2025. When this college football season ends there will be 12 teams vying for a crown. Before it’s settled in the College Football Playoff National Championship in Miami, the Peach and Fiesta (semis) and Sugar, Rose, Orange and Cotton (quarters) will be part of the process.

The 12-team model, which was introduced for the 2024 season, isn’t bad at all. No way to prove it, of course, but my guess is that any team that has a realistic shot at winning it all is gonna be in the field of 12.

That wasn’t the case during the original four-team playoff (2014-2023), which I always called an invitational. It was obviously better than the Bowl Championship Series (1998-2013) that came before it, but the sample size of championship-caliber schools was far too small.

Yet, as clunky as my 16-team format might have appeared many years ago, there has now been discussion (prompted by Big Ten folks) of going as high as 28 teams.

And why not?

The Football Championship Subdivision has had a 24-team playoff since 2013 and it seems to work just fine.

Reports suggest a 28-team field would see the Big Ten and SEC receiving seven automatic bids each, with the ACC and Big 12 getting five apiece. The other four spots would be split between a pair of wildcard teams and two top non-Power 4 programs.

“The more spots the better, man. Make that thing 40 and let’s go,” Nebraska coach Matt Rhule said on Husker Online, with tongue only partially in cheek. “I think, again, you’re talking about a league (Big Ten) that we play nine conference games where some others play eight (the SEC voted Thursday to move to a nine-game league schedule in 2026). So, I think that puts you at an automatic disadvantage.”

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney has a pair of CFP titles under his belt and says no matter how a champion is determined, his ACC team will show up.

“As I’ve said many times, when there was a BCS, we made it,” Swinney said in July. “We got to the BCS down in the Orange Bowl and got in the mix of that and played Ohio State. When it was the Final Four, we got there six times. Four final twos. And when it went to 12, somehow, someway, with a 56-yarder (a field goal that won the ACC championship for the Tigers in 2024), we made it. We got there.

“So, if it goes to 14 or it goes to 16 or 24 or if there’s a new number, I don’t know … I have no idea. I just know this: at Clemson, we’re gonna always have a chance to be in whatever tournament people want to create.”

The SEC and Big Ten basically run college football, so – like it or not – whatever they decide is what will ultimately happen. And while saying, “I hope (fill in name of school here) finishes at least seventh in the (Big Ten or SEC) so they can make the playoffs” sounds ridiculous, this is a moneymaking business and big, bold expansion would rake in cash in by the millions.

Look, big-time college football – certainly from a Power 4 perspective – is NFL Lite now. Thanks to revenue sharing, NIL deals and the transfer portal, it’s pro football that just happens to have marching bands, cheerleaders and a fully-paid education if a player chooses to take advantage of it. Whatever college football once was, it is now something else entirely.

And since you can’t turn back the clock – except when Daylight Saving Time comes – you can either embrace it or ignore it.

But hey – these teams are still attached to universities.

Saturday tailgating continues unabated.

And there are almost too many bowls to count (OK, I counted – there are 42).

In other words, some vestiges of tradition remain. Thus, if your team doesn’t qualify for the 24 or 28-school CFP in the future, the consolation prize could be an invitation to the Extreme Cheese Bikini Atoll Atomic Bowl.

That said, my 16-team playoff idea remains there for the taking – and I’m ready for the Astro-Bluebonnet, Freedom and Hall of Fame Bowls to make a comeback …

Wood, WFL made history 50 years ago

When asked what was most notable about the 1975 World Football League (aside from its collapse after 12 weeks of the regular season), many people will tell you it was the debut of Super Bowl champions Larry Csonka, Paul Warfield and Jim Kiick with the Memphis Southmen.

Fair enough.

But if you’re looking for the most historically significant moment for the WFL – as well as professional football – it was the elevation of Willie Wood to head coach of the Philadelphia Bell.

When Wood was named to the post on July 29, 1975, it marked the first time an African-American had been head coach of a professional football team since Fritz Pollard in the early days of the NFL.

Pollard coached the Akron Pros in 1921 and his last stint was with the Chicago Black Hawks traveling team in 1928, meaning Woods knocked down a wall that had stood for 47 years.

“My original idea was to play (the race angle) down,” Wood told the Associated Press. “But obviously, the mere fact that I’m black means I feel I have to do a good job. If I can put forth all the energy I feel I have in store, if we can develop a winning team here, maybe somewhere down the road they’ll think of the Philadelphia Bell as a winning team and not me as a black coach.”

Wood was no stranger to breaking barriers.

As quarterback for the Southern California Trojans, he was the first black quarterback to play in what was then the Pacific 8 Conference. He went undrafted, but Green Bay coach Vince Lombardi signed him as a free agent and converted him to safety. In 12 seasons with the Packers, the future Pro Football Hall of Famer was part of five NFL championship teams, earning All-NFL honors six times and making eight Pro Bowl appearances.

But his first shot at being a head coach was unexpected.

Wood, 39, was hired as the Bell’s defensive coordinator for the 1975 season. However, head coach Ron Waller abruptly resigned on July 23. Wood was named Waller’s replacement just four days before Philadelphia opened the regular season against The Hawaiians.

“There are others in line for the job, but virtually everybody – from the players through the front office – thinks Willie is the best qualified man for the job,” Bell assistant publicity director John Waldeyer said.

With such a short turnaround, Wood realized the opener would be a challenge.

“Whenever you have a change of administrations, there are problems,” he said. “I do anticipate problems, but of what kind and degree I don’t know. We have the finest bunch of players I know, and I don’t anticipate any problems with them.”

Although the 1975 WFL was actually a different entity than its 1974 predecessor, the Bell and Hawaiians had many of the same players from the year before when both teams finished with 9-11 regular season records.

When they met again on August 2, 1975 – before a grand total of 3,266 fans at Franklin Field – Philadelphia escaped with a 21-15 victory, making Wood a winner in his debut.

“Frankly, I haven’t been able to answer all the calls, letters and telegrams I’ve received,” Wood told the Philadelphia Daily News for an August 6, 1975, story. “I’ve been asked over and over what it all means, so I attach a sense of importance to it. I don’t know exactly how to answer.

“It’d be erroneous to say it means nothing, but it’d also be wrong to say it’s the most important thing. It’s most important to have the job.”

Yet, while Wood had a happy beginning to his coaching career, there was no happy ending. Philadelphia was 4-7 when the WFL folded on October 22, 1975.

Wood became the first black head coach in Canadian Football League history when he was hired by the Toronto Argonauts in 1980, but they finished 6-10 that year (the franchise’s seventh consecutive losing season) and he was fired in 1981 after an 0-10 start.

As for the rest of professional football, the drought for black head coaches continued until Art Shell was hired by the NFL Los Angeles Raiders in 1989.

Wood’s Hall of Fame achievements came as a player, and he’ll forever be known as one of the all-time great Packers. But even though his coaching career was brief and there were far more losses than wins, he made an indelible mark 50 years ago today.

Remembering Ryno

When you reach my age, you start to realize that you’re much closer to the finish line than you are the starting block. And sadly, that means people you know – and some you wish you’d known – finish the race before you want it to end.

That’s what happened on Monday when the great Ryne Sandberg died.

Prostate cancer took the Baseball Hall of Famer at age 65, and I feel like I lost a friend … a friend who was just a year older than me.

Dammit.

See, Sandberg is responsible for me morphing from a mostly casual baseball fan into a baseball fanatic.

By way of background, it’s important to note that I’m not a lifelong baseball fan. When I was a young kid, all I cared about was football. Then I discovered basketball. And before I was 10, soccer entered the picture.

My only memory of baseball then was seeing my dad sit in front of the ol’ RCA Victor, watching Curt Gowdy and Joe Garagiola call the NBC Game of the Week on Saturday afternoons.

But by the time I reached my tweens, I figured it was past time that I gave a little attention to the National Pastime.

Pop had been a Yankees fan until the Braves moved from Milwaukee to Atlanta in 1966, but I liked to pretend I was a New Yorker, so they were my favorite American League team.

In the National League, however, I cast my lot with the Chicago Cubs. There was a book in my grammar school library called Mr. Cub by Jim Enright, and the story of Ernie Banks compelled me to cheer on his team.

Before long, I was soaking up every bit of knowledge I could about the game, with baseball’s Mr. Sunshine serving as my guiding light.

Now, let’s jump to the 1980s.

Most of the Braves’ games were on WTBS and the Cubs were a staple of WGN, and one of my favorite things was to watch a Cubs-Braves series with my dad. He’d root for guys like Dale Murphy, Bob Horner and Chris Chambliss, and I was rocking a blue cap with a baby bear on it and supporting Leon Durham, Jody Davis – and especially No. 23.

It was a friendly competition between us – as well as quality time – so no matter which team lost, I always felt like I won.

And while I usually cringe when I hear the words “athlete” and “hero” lumped together in the same sentence, Ryno seemed heroic to me. He was a great player, certainly – a magnet-gloved second baseman who always seemed destined for Cooperstown.

Beyond that, though, he seemed like a really good dude. He wasn’t just one of the best in baseball, he was the best of us.

Once when we were watching together, Pop turned to me and said, “I don’t care who your team is – you gotta like Ryne Sandberg.”

Even though I never played organized baseball a day in my life, Ryno made me wish I had.

Yet, as much as I enjoyed watching him ply his trade at Wrigley Field, it was old Fulton County Stadium where I got to see him play in person.

I still remember it.

The first time came on August 31, 1984, when the Cubs and Braves met on a Friday night in Atlanta. The Braves won, 3-2, with Murphy (another one of my favorite players) driving in the game-winning run with a one-out single in the ninth.

But I got my money’s worth in the top of the first inning.

After Bob Dernier flied out to open the game, Sandberg stepped up to the plate against Tony Brizzolara and blasted his 18^th home run of the season, a dinger to deep left field that sent my voice soaring and my beer splashing.

I had long wanted to be in the stands for a Sandberg game, and the fact that I got to witness him knock one out of the park made the evening perfect – even if the Cubs were on the short end of the scoreboard.

When he was done that year, the man who ultimately claimed National League MVP honors had a .314 batting average with 19 homers, 36 doubles, 19 triples, 84 RBI and 32 stolen bases.

Over the years, I was on hand for several other visits Sandberg made to Atlanta. I saw more crucial hits, more good fielding plays – more of the best he had to offer.

And his best was better than most.

His last year as a player was 1997, and by then I was already 10 years into my newspaper career. At that point, most of the baseball games I saw were through the lens of a writer instead of a fan.

Sandberg hit .285 with 282 home runs, 1,061 runs batted in and 344 steals in 15 seasons with Chicago.

He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2005, and at the time held the record for most Gold Glove Awards by a second baseman (nine), most consecutive errorless games by a second sacker (123), and the most home runs hit from that position (277 of his 282 homers came while playing second).

Despite being a sports writer who strived to be objective, I never stopped being a fan of Ryne Sandberg, both as a player and as a person.

I never got to know him personally, but I miss him as though I did.

We should all be so lucky to leave that kind of legacy.