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The first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff finished up a few weeks ago as Ohio State ended up beating Notre Dame in the national championship. There seem to be some kinks to work out with the seeding, auto-bids and byes, but it doesn't seem like the 12-team playoff is going anywhere anytime soon. It doesn't seem like the committee will ever move backwards and shrink the size of the playoff, but after this year, there aren't a lot of people that want to expand further. ESPN's Paul Finebaum fits into that category.
It was clear this season that we didn't need more than 12 teams in the College Football Playoff. There were a lot of blowouts, and the season didn't end until late January. In fact, a lot of people think that 12 teams are too much. Paul Finebaum is one of those people.
“I feel like 12 teams are enough, probably too many, but it’s what we have, so we’re not going backward,” Finebaum said, according to an article from On3. “I don’t see any compelling reasons to add more. I don’t care how good you are. I think you ought to prove it. It just smells of a level of elitism that I’m not a big fan of.”
This year, there was a lot of controversy with SMU getting the final nod into the College Football Playoff over teams like Alabama, Ole Miss and South Carolina. While teams in the SEC and Big Ten can afford another loss or two compared to teams in the ACC and Big 12, they still have to earn their right to play in the CFP.
“The SEC and the Big Ten will always get a pretty large number,” Finebaum said. “Listen, not only do I understand this argument, I’ve made the argument before in terms of, ‘Hey, the SEC, they go through a different gauntlet than another conference.’ But I also just don’t like starting the season knowing no matter how good or bad your teams are, you’re going to be grandfathered in. To me, there’s something wrong with that.”
The SEC wants to expand the playoff and have a certain amount of auto-bids for teams in the conference. Finebaum, an SEC guy, doesn't think that makes a lot of sense given how the SEC has fared in the College Football Playoff the past couple seasons. Right now, he actually thinks that the Big Ten is the best conference.
“It’s a new narrative,” Finebaum said. “And for somebody who talks 20 hours a week to SEC fans, it’s on their minds. I’m sitting there, and I’ve got a million people watching, and I’m the, quote, unquote, voice of the SEC.”
Michigan and Ohio State, two Big Ten teams, have won the last two national championships. The Wolverines did it in the final four-team playoff, and the Buckeyes wouldn't have been able to do it if it weren't for the playoff expanding to 12 teams. Will the SEC get back on top next season?
