If You Look At This 16-Team College Football Playoff Bracket For Too Long You'll Need To Call A Doctor

Oh my god, what a thing of beauty. A 16-team playoff, with the first round being at the home site of the higher seeded team. If you think the world stops for the first weekend of March Madness (best time of the year, hands down), then could you imagine the first weekend of the 16 team College Football Playoff? Do you play all 8 games on one Saturday? Or do you go two each on Thursday through Sunday? I don't care what you do....this would be INCREDIBLE. 

The glaring problems with the 4 team playoff are so obvious. With having 5 "power conferences", at least one conference is always the odd man out. In 2014, the Big 12 didn’t have a representative. In 2015, the PAC 12 received no invite. In 2016, the Big 12 sat out once again. And in 2017, both the Big 10 and the PAC 12 were left at home. Last year, the PAC 12 again didn't participate. The NCAA is literally leaving money on the table, something that already blows my mind. I mean, think about 2017-2018. Clemson, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Alabama were the four teams. Call me a homer, call me whatever you want, but the Big 10 dominates the Midwest area of the United States. Not having an Ohio State/Penn State/Michigan type team hurts your appeal to many people. Notre Dame wasn't included either, nor anyone from the west coast. You're leaving out so much $$$, so much viewership, and so many teams. The 4 team playoff needs to expand.

Now, and I hate to be a Debbie Downer here, but this proposed 16 team bracket is not the best move for college football. And anyone that thinks so is flat out wrong. A 16 team playoff would be fun for brackets and gambling and all of that, but it devalues the regular season far too much. There's no urgency in this scenario, especially for schools in the SEC. I mean, a 9-3 SEC team would make the top 16 every single year. And it completely takes away the need to win a conference championship. The fact of the matter is that you need to find the sweet spot between leaving deserving teams out and letting everyone in. And that, folks, is an 8 team playoff.

Oh baby. I haven't seen something so beautfiful in all my life. This isn't what this country deserves right now, but it's what this country NEEDS.

So ESPN and the College Football Playoff are currently on a 12-year, $7.2 billion contract that runs through 2026. Does that mean that the contract cannot be reopened for another 6 years? Absolutely not. The College Football Playoff has been and always will be about making money. Ask TCU why they didn’t make it in 2014. But I don't see what it's going to take to make them revisit. This is a no brainer to me. Maybe a covid year where they need to either keep out an undefeated Ohio State or a 1-loss A&M (to the #1 team in the country) could push everyone in the right direction? If not, I'm not sure what will.