For the first time in major college football history, we’re finally getting a playoff in the 2024 season.
Wait … what?
“But, Scott,” you say, even though I can’t hear you, “the Football Bowl Subdivision has had a playoff since 2014. You must be smoking your kale.”
Ah, yes – the College Football Playoff. Before this year, it involved four teams tapped by a 13-person selection committee. Call it what you like, but when you have four schools out of more than 130 vying for a championship, that’s not a playoff – that’s an invitational.
Starting this December, however, the FBS postseason will look more than an honest to goodness tournament since 12 teams will be in the hunt for a title. The field will include the five highest-ranked conference champions – which will receive automatic bids – plus the seven highest-ranked teams remaining in the CFP poll.
The top four conference champs get a first-round bye to the quarterfinals and will be seeded 1-4. Seeds 5-12 will play each other in the first round with the higher-seeded teams hosting.
So, the first round matchups will be:
- No. 5 vs. No. 12
- No. 6 vs. No. 11
- No. 7 vs. No. 10
- No. 8 vs. No. 9
“New Year’s Six” bowl games will come into play in the quarterfinal round, while the semifinals will be played in bowls on a rotating basis and the national championship site will be bid on and continue to be called the College Football Playoff National Championship.
It’s not as comprehensive or good as the 24-team Football Championship Subdivision playoff, but it’s good enough for now and has room to expand. I’m guessing in most seasons, the only teams with a legitimate chance of wearing the crown will be among the 12 who are hand-picked to fight for it.
College football playoffs, of course, have been cussed and discussed for as long as I can remember, although the idea used to be little more than a pipe dream. Back in the mid-1960s the NCAA set up a committee to study the feasibility of a playoff, but that initial push died on the vine.
Then 50 years ago, legendary Notre Dame coach Ara Parseghian became a vocal supporter.
On December 31, 1973, his No. 3-ranked Fighting Irish upset No. 1 Alabama, 24-23, in the Sugar Bowl. The Crimson Tide had already claimed the United Press International title (UPI named its champion before the bowl games) but Notre Dame got the nod from the Associated Press after finishing 11-0.
Penn State was 12-0 that year, while Ohio State and Oklahoma closed their campaigns with 10-0-1 worksheets.
On. Jan. 1, 1974 – before AP released its final poll – Parseghian made his case.
“I’ll be disappointed if we’re not No. 1 … I think we deserve it,” Parseghian told AP. “Somebody has to take the bull by the horns. Our game with Alabama is the greatest proof that some sort of official playoff is needed.”
Parseghian suggested a 16-team tourney, based on either a team’s record or by NCAA selection.
“We have enough bowls now – in fact, more than enough – to handle the procedure,” he explained. “The final game could be rotated among the four major bowls, Rose, Sugar, Orange and Cotton.”
Back in the day – before we had made-for-ESPN games like the Extreme Disco Chicken Tenders Bowl and Buttcrack Plumbing Classic – postseason matchups really were special. In 1974, for example, there were only 11 bowl games available for “big time” schools. This year, there will be 41 – plus the national championship and four first round playoff games played at campus sites.
And in the 70s, some coaches didn’t want to mess with the holiday tradition of college football. One of them was Southern Cal boss John McKay, who was also head of the American Football Coaches Association in 1974.
“I think the NCAA would like to have it, but can they work it out,” McKay wondered when asked by an AP reporter. “No one has proved one way or the other whether it would eliminate the bowls. My feeling is we shouldn’t eliminate the bowls because they’ve been so good to college football.
“The biggest problem with a playoff is the number of extra games it would require. Most bowl games are played during non-examination periods.”
McKay added that he didn’t want the NCAA to follow the NFL model.
“We’d be getting tied up with what the pros do,” he said. “Their Super Bowl is the dullest game of the year. I won’t even watch it.”
And there were those who suggested the controversy surrounding “mythical national champions” was good for the game.
Maryland coach Jerry Claiborne thought so, even after Parseghian’s suggestion.
“Right now, you’ve got a champion in Notre Dame and teams like Ohio State and Penn State which think they should be No. 1,” Claiborne said. “Everyone keeps writing and talking about it.”
The world – and the college football world – has changed dramatically over the past 50 years. Major conference FBS football is now basically NFL Lite, with players able to earn compensation for their labor over the table instead of under it. And it probably won’t be long before the 50 or 60 elite programs break away and form their own version of a College Super League.
But after the Bowl Coalition, Bowl Alliance, Bowl Championship Series and a four-team CFP, what Parseghian hoped for in 1974 has now more or less come to pass.
It’s gonna be fun to see how it all shakes out.