Well, the big news today was that the CFP has approved a 12 team playoff that will replace the current 4 team playoff.
Currently, under the 4 team playoffs it is up to a panel of “experts” to rank teams from 1-4 based on their play, strength of schedule, and other various key points. In the past there have been various teams “snubbed” because of this process.
In particular 2017 UCF, 2014 TCU/Baylor, 2018 Ohio State, 2017 Wisconsin, 2015 Ohio State, and 2020 Texas A&M.
All of these schools would have loved to have a shot to prove their worth but yet were left out of the top 4.
With the new news of the 12-team playoff what it is going to be is six conference champions and six at-large teams.
If we use last years final playoffs ranking these would be the playoff teams from 2021.
Alabama, Cincinnati, Baylor, Utah, Pitt, Michigan for the conference champions and Notre Dame, Georgia, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, and Michigan State for the at-large teams.
I mean looking at this list of teams the story-lines would have been huge and the ratings would have been through the roof.
Overall, I think this will make the NCAA a lot better off as kids who are looking at colleges for a chance to win a national title might stay away from the big four schools now.
How did we get to this point?
Well, to say that UCF was the pioneer of this is a gross understatement. Five years ago, former athletic director Danny White stood on that field and made that famous “National Champions” quote and it literally has caught on like wild-fire.
UCF got snubbed out of the playoffs that season with a 12-0 record (granted that their opponents were not very strong) but still the only team in the NCAA to finish with an unbeaten record.
Do I think UCF would have won the National Title that year? No? But we will never know because we were never given the chance to see it. I say this for my argument on why a 12 team playoff is a good thing https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/a-12-team-college-football-playoff-would-be-big-enough-90-percent-of-the-time/. They use actual numbers and statistics for their research and have proven why it would work.
The benefit to UCF in all this is because of this new system there is always a path to the National Title for UCF.
Whether it be the Conference Championship or as an At-Large team through the Big 12. It now opens the door for new recruits and new sponsorships.
Overall, as a program if you look at where this program came from and where it is now you will see an amazing improvement.
The future is here now.