Fans hoping for two competitive football games Friday were left disappointed as Alabama blew past Cincinnati in the first College Football Playoff semifinal game before the Bulldogs made quick work of Michigan in the nightcap.
While an expansion of the playoff feels inevitable at this point, the results from New Year’s Eve have many, including Nick Kayal, asking if expansion is necessary.
“The average margin of victory in the CFB Playoff semifinals since its inception in the 2014 season has been by over 20 points per game. What are we doing here,” Kayal questioned.
Kayal pointed out that since 2014, you can count the number of one-possession semifinal games on one hand—Clemson vs. Ohio State (2019), Georgia vs. Oklahoma (2017), Ohio State vs. Alabama (2015). With that in mind, Kayal says that the motivation behind expansion is clear.
“Number one, it's a money grab. They’re going to go from 4 to 12 teams—some would say the sweet spot is 8—because more games means more television revenue, more programming for ESPN and more money for the people that run these bowl games," he said.
He went on to argue that an expansion of this year’s playoff, or any in years past, wouldn’t have changed anything.
“There’s no reason for expansion. It’s just going to delay the inevitable…If anything, we should go back to the BCS,” Kayal said.
Unlike the NFL, Kayal argues that parody does not exist in college football and concludes that “there’s an imbalance problem in college football, not an inclusion problem.”
The ESPN contract for the College Football Playoff in its current form expires following the 2025 season, so the conversation surrounding expansion will surely continue in the years to come.