Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I was really hoping Notre Dame would get a third-down stop on Ohio State’s last possession to make the end of that game a little more interesting.
In today’s SI:AM:
🤫 Buckeyes silence the doubters
⭕ Will Howard steps up
🏈 All-CFP team
That was fun
The first iteration of the 12-team College Football Playoff ended Monday night with the Ohio State Buckeyes’ 34–23 win over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. On the whole, it was a decent game. It started out with Notre Dame’s impressive 18-play touchdown drive before it lagged a bit in the middle as the Buckeyes asserted their dominance, although the Irish were able to add some intrigue with a comeback attempt in the fourth quarter.
The game marked the end of a good-but-not-great playoff that had more blowouts than competitive games. That’s nothing new for the CFP, which had its fair share of lopsided results even in the four-team era, but expanding the field to 12 teams was bound to invite scrutiny over the wisdom of that decision and its impact on the college football landscape. So what should we make of the new format after its debut?
The first thing fans will look at when judging the success of the new format is the quality of the games it produced. By my count, only four of the 11 games were competitive (the Arizona State-Texas quarterfinal, both semifinals and the title game). That shouldn’t come as a surprise in a sport as stratified as college football, and it’s in line with previous iterations of the playoff. It was foolish to expect every game to be a nailbiter—that hasn’t even been the case in this year’s NFL playoffs, in a league with much more parity—so we should consider it fortunate that the first expanded playoff didn’t feature any games like the Georgia Bulldogs’ 65–7 championship game blowout over the TCU Horned Frogs in 2023.
One positive aspect of the 12-team format that everyone can agree on was the introduction of on-campus playoff games. The environments in South Bend, Ind., Columbus, Ohio, Austin and State College, Pa., on the first weekend of the playoff were excellent. Raucous home crowds are one of the things that make college football special, and the CFP would be smart to add more on-campus games for future iterations.
The other undeniably positive development is that the expanded field gave more teams their moment in the spotlight. Teams like the Boise State Broncos, Indiana Hoosiers and Arizona State Sun Devils never would have had a chance of making the field in the four-team era. The new format rewarded them for excellent seasons, even if none of those teams won a game. All those teams would surely tell you they prefer the opportunity to play for a championship and lose over winning a meaningless bowl game.
The two title game participants also benefited significantly from the format change. A two-loss Ohio State team that fell flat at home against a mediocre Michigan Wolverines team and a Notre Dame team with a loss to the Northern Illinois Huskies would have been easy choices to leave out of a four-team bracket. Instead, the 12-team format offered them a chance at redemption. But at what cost? The biggest concern fans had about the 12-team playoff when it was announced was the impact it would have on the regular season. The regular season has always been more important in college football than it is in any other major American sport. One upset loss could sink your title hopes in an instant. Not anymore. But is that a good thing or a bad thing? Ohio State and Notre Dame’s seasons can help make an argument for either side. On one hand, Notre Dame spent all season proving that its shocking loss to NIU in Week 2 was an aberration, and the fact that it didn’t knock the Irish out of playoff contention won’t cheapen the accomplishment for the Huskies and their fans. But at the same time, Michigan’s win over Ohio State loses something when it doesn’t also ruin their hated rivals’ title hopes. Fans of both teams would surely prefer to have the stakes that the 2023 edition did, when it functioned as a de facto playoff elimination game.
Almost every major sport has expanded its playoff system in recent years. The NFL went from 12 teams to 14 in 2020. The NBA added an eight-team play-in tournament in ’21. MLB went from 10 teams to 12 in ’22. And more expansion is on the horizon. The NCAA is reportedly considering expanding March Madness to include 72 or 76 teams, and a 16-team College Football Playoff is considered an inevitability.
The reason for the expansion trend is simple: TV money. More playoff games means more inventory to shop to television networks and streaming services. So we won’t see the CFP contract back to four teams any time soon, and that’s probably a good thing. Although we didn’t have any major upsets this time around, eventually we’ll see a team like Boise State or Indiana shock the world. The CFP board can and should take steps to improve the product, like placing more games on campuses and away from the drab atmosphere of the overly corporate bowl games. But for the most part, the CFP got what it wanted out of the new format—and so did fans.
The best of Sports Illustrated
- With a dominant four-game run through the CFP, Ohio State and Ryan Day silenced the doubters who said they couldn’t win the big one, Pat Forde writes.
- The star for the Buckeyes was transfer quarterback Will Howard. Bryan Fischer has more on his Herculean effort against the Irish.
- Mike McDaniel named his All–College Football Playoff team, featuring, of course, Ohio State freshman sensation Jeremiah Smith.
- Conor Orr explains why just being able to hire the coveted Ben Johnson is an organizational win for the Bears.
- Jayden Daniels was one of Gilberto Manzano’s big winners from the NFL’s divisional round.
- Before the Baseball Hall of Fame election results are announced Tuesday, our experts answered a few big questions about this year’s balloting.
- Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman’s decision to attempt a field goal late in the game drew heavy criticism. The coach explained after the game why he made that call.
- Oilers star Connor McDavid has been suspended three games for a dirty play.
The top five…
… things I saw yesterday (and this morning):
This article was originally published on www.si.com as SI:AM | Expanded College Football Playoff Proves Successful—With Room for Improvement.
