The College Football Playoff Committee met in Dallas this week to discuss the future of the college football playoffs. This committee is made up of the 10 FBS conference commissioners and Notre Dame. There are three hot button issues facing this group. First and foremost they need to take a hard look at how the seed the playoffs moving forward. Other issues include expanding the playoff field to 14 and maybe even 16 teams. And they need to discuss how teams qualify for the playoffs and how many should get in from each conference.
The College Football Playoff Committee must be in full agreement, for now: Any rule change ahead of the 2025 season will require an unanimous vote from all 11 members. After this year, the unanimous vote requirement goes by the wayside and that means the Big Ten and SEC will be able to wield more power. Those Power 2 Conferences want 4 automatic qualifiers each year to make the playoff field. That topic, and the possible expansion of the playoff field will probably have to wait until next year.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF COMMITTEE LOOKS AT SEEDING
But there seems to be some interest from most members to look at, and possibly change, how they seed teams for the playoffs. The four highest ranked conference champions get favorable treatment for first round byes and top 4 seedings. However, that meant a 9th ranked Boise State Mountain West champion and a 12th ranked Arizona State Big 12 champion got top seeding and first round byes. That didn't sit well with better teams that had higher rankings.
It should also be noted that all four teams with first round byes, including top ranked Oregon and Georgia all lost their first games in the quarterfinals.
There is a growing notion among the college football playoff committee to reward the top 4 ranked teams with the top 4 seeds and a first round bye. However the committee punted the issue for now. They decided they need more data and will convene again next month to tackle this seeding issue again.
For more college football talk tune in every weekday to Craig Shemon and Company from 2-6pm on ESPN Southwest Florida.
