The inaugural season of the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff is officially in the books. Congratulations to the Ohio State Buckeyes on their well-deserved national title.
The new system is widely viewed as a success. The format, expanded from four teams to twelve, has opened the door for more teams to compete for the championship.
Of course, this year’s title game featured a pair of blue-blood programs: Notre Dame and Ohio State.
Notre Dame entered the playoffs as the seventh seed, while Ohio State came in as the eighth seed. Both teams navigated a grueling playoff bracket to reach the championship stage, proving the effectiveness of the expanded system in fostering competitive balance.
ESPN analyst Jesse Palmer, who has called several CFP games this season, praised the format but suggested a significant tweak to the seeding rules.
“I think conference champions should get in,” Palmer said. “I don’t think they should be given an automatic bye, though, in the quarterfinal.
“It just felt like to me, just as a fan of college football, watching Oregon play Ohio State and watching Georgia play Notre Dame, those felt like semifinal matches to me and not necessarily quarterfinal matches.”
Ohio State’s path to the title game included a first-round victory over Tennessee, followed by a quarterfinal rematch against Oregon.
The Buckeyes avenged a regular-season loss to the Ducks with a dominant 41-21 win in the Rose Bowl.
Oregon, the Big Ten champion with a flawless 13-0 record, entered the playoffs as the third seed but saw its perfect season end abruptly at the hands of Ohio State.
The Buckeyes continued their march by defeating Texas in the Cotton Bowl to secure their spot in the championship.
Meanwhile, seventh-seeded Notre Dame stunned second-seeded Georgia in the quarterfinals after defeating Indiana in the first round.
Georgia, as the SEC champion, earned one of the four byes in the expanded bracket. Despite the advantage, the Bulldogs fell to a determined Fighting Irish squad in a game that highlighted the unpredictability of the new format.
Notre Dame followed up with a victory over Penn State in the Orange Bowl to book its ticket to the national title game.
While the expansion of the playoff field was much-needed, Palmer is far from alone with his opinion that the seeding system needs to be fixed.
Games have to matter, as does winning conference championships. Having said that, most people feel it doesn’t make any sense for teams like Boise State and Arizona State to get byes over other teams who are clearly better and more deserving than them.
(Shout out to the Sun Devils for putting up one hell of a fight against Texas though.)
What are your thoughts on Palmer’s comments? … What changes – if any – would YOU make to the current CFP system???
