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They Could Expand the College Football Playoff to 50 Teams and People Would Complain About Team 51 Being Left Out
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Here’s the CFP bracket:
Lots of hemming and hawing after the fact, obviously. CliffsNotes on all of that:
- Three-loss Alabama got in as the #9 seed, giving us a rematch of a game we already saw this season.
- 11-2 BYU was punished for being clobbered in their conference title game, but Bama was not.
- The SEC is the greatest conference in the world and obvious bias exists.
- Notre Dame was 10-2 and left out. They declined a bowl invitation as a result.
- There was assorted complaining that Tulane and JMU shouldn’t be participating in the CFP.
That’s about it, summed up. Most of the discourse centered on that 9/10 segment of the bracket and how the committee was going to view Bama, Miami, and Notre Dame. Personally, I think the anti-Bama case is less about being waxed by UGA in the SEC title game and more about losing 31-17 to Florida State in the season opener, a Noles squad that went 5-7 and finished 13th in the ACC.
On the flipside, Bama had wins against Georgia, Vandy, Mizzou, and Tennessee, four ranked teams in four weeks, so it just brings you to the age-old conundrum of weighing good wins against bad losses.
More than anything, there must be acceptance that no matter how much the bracket is tweaked, or the field expanded, it’s never going to be perfect. Everyone knows this, right? We allow 68 teams into March Madness these days, and argue about who was snubbed and who deserved to be there. But the truth of the matter is that these teams aren’t title contenders to begin with, so while everything should be evaluated in the interest of fairness, it just doesn’t matter much when the games are actually played.
This is similar in an expanded CFP field, with the caveat of fewer wins being required to win it all. But anybody who watched these teams in 2025 knows that the top four are in a league of their own. Indiana went 13-0. Ohio State would have gone 13-0 if not for… Indiana. Texas Tech had one off day, but clubbed every other squad they played. UGA is the SEC champion. From there, you’ve got a good Oregon team. Ole Miss without Lane Kiffin, and then TAMU and OU teams that would have to play Indiana and Ohio State in the second round.
The oddsmakers believe there are only five teams with a legit shot to win it all, with the Big 10 teams at +250, Georgia at +550, and Oregon and Texas Tech even at +900. Bama and Miami come in at +2200 and +2500, and while anybody can beat anybody on any given day, we all know that the 9th or 10th seed probably isn’t gonna run the table here. Bama would have to beat Oklahoma on the road, Indiana on a neutral field, then either TTU or Oregon and likely Ohio State or Georgia in the Natty.
At the end of the day, someone’s going to be left out. You’re never going to make everybody happy. But if you’re on the bubble, you’re probably not a title contender anyway.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com