College football fans are the biggest winners when the College Football Playoff working group recommended expanding the playoffs to 12 teams.
It obviously increased the odds of a fan’s favorite team being included in the hunt for a national championship. Teams seeded No. 5 through No. 8 will also have the chance to host a playoff game. Finally, there will be more marquee football games where the best teams in the country will face off.
However, the fans weren’t the only group that will win in the proposal. CBS Sports launched a list of its official winners and losers from the expansion.
Their winners were the Group of Five, the SEC, coffers, campuses in December, bracketologists, conference championship games and the Pac-12. They highlighted the Rose Bowl, Notre Dame, the bowl experience and player safety as the biggest losers.
I pointed out that Florida and the SEC along with the Big Ten that where some of the conferences and teams that would benefit the most from the announcement Thursday.
However, the Group of Five conferences scored a large victory, too, because the six highest-ranked conference champions are guaranteed a spot. It’s also possible the Group of Five can gain two berths. For example, Cincinnati and Coastal Carolina were the fifth and sixth highest-ranked conference champions ahead of Pac-12 champion Oregon this season.
Campuses in December are also winners because a playoff game in the Swamp, Death Valley or the Horseshoe would be dreamy.
CBS also considered the Pac-12 conference winners because in the four-team format that conference was usually left out. Now it should be almost always guaranteed one team.
To transition to the other side, the Rose Bowl and player safety are the ultimate losers. The Rose Bowl loses more of its tradition because the CFP quarterfinals will start on or near Jan. 1, and The Granddaddy of Them All will not feature teams from the Big Ten and the Pac-12. If the bowl will not give up its traditional New Year’s Day spot, the Rose Bowl will not be in contention to host a CFP semifinal.
Finally, player safety has been tossed to the wind. With the new format, college players could play up to 16-17 games a year, an NFL regular-season schedule length without the compensation their players receive.
