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There were some tense moments, yes, and some anxiety. Then, when the field was announced, there was relief. Or frustration. Or some mixture of both.
Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby was glad to see his leagueâs champion included in the College Football Playoff. Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany was unhappy to see his champion outside the four-team bracket â again.
As the fifth edition of the Playoff nears kickoff, the conversation about whether and when it will expand continues to heat up. Itâs constant fodder for talk radio, but especially this month, in the weeks after the annual selection of the four-team bracket, with a fresh set of results to argue over, we hear calls for change.
Except where it matters.
The Power Five conference commissioners â who created the Playoff and would make any alterations â say they remain largely satisfied, that it is working as intended. And although some say they would not be opposed to considering something different at some point, they see no reason â and insist there is no impetus â to explore significant change now.
âFour works,â Bowlsby told USA TODAY by text message on Sunday, reiterating a point he has consistently made. âIt was hard to get to four with lots of compromises. We should be thoughtful, but shouldnât refuse to discuss.â
While itâs easy to grab and hold that very last part, donât discount the very first part, either. Bowlsbyâs sentiment has been echoed this month, publicly and privately, by many of his peers.
You think eight is great? Fine. So do many others. But four works, say the guys who matter.
And if anything, the bracket of Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame and Oklahoma forestalled any serious discussion of substantive change. It includes three conference champions and three unbeaten teams. Two conferences are on the outside looking in â but their commissioners are not exactly clamoring for inclusion or change.
During an appearance earlier this month at the annual Learfield/Sports Business Journal Intercollegiate Athletics Forum in New York, Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said he was disappointed his league was left out for the third time in five years, but essentially reiterated something heâd told reporters a few days earlier, before the Pac-12 championship game.
âFelt then, feel now, four is absolutely the right number,â Scott said then.
The same goes for Delany, whose league has missed the Playoff for two consecutive seasons. Delany said he believes the Big Ten has three teams that could win the national championship this season. None will have the chance. But since 12-1 Ohio State was ranked No. 6 by the selection committee â behind Oklahoma and SEC runner-up Georgia â Delany has declined several opportunities to lash out, even though the Big Tenâs champion has been left out three years in a row (in 2016, Ohio State got into the Playoff without winning the Big Ten, but Big Ten champ Penn State was edged out by Pac-12 champ Washington).
âWe knew what we were buying,â Delany said. âI donât have buyerâs remorse on this. We donât allow the (selection) committee or anybody else to define who we are.â
Rather than advocating change to the Playoff â either to the selection protocol or to the size of the field â Delany suggested the Big Ten could consider whether to scrap its divisional format and instead match its two best teams in its title game, the better to provide a push for the winner into the Playoff.
âIâve heard more conversation about that inside our league,â he said, but he added: âEverything is not about the College Football Playoff.â
Delany also noted the compromises made in creating the Playoff, which he described as an attempt to balance several varied interests, as well as the need for âcore consensusâ on any changes; they wonât come âby a 5-4 vote,â he said â though the important part of that might be which five commissioners were "yes" votes. Although the Playoffâs management committee is comprised of the commissioners of the 10 FBS conferences and Notre Dameâs athletic director, the Power Five conferences wield the, uh, power (itâs why the push by the American Athletic Conference commissioner Mike Aresco on behalf of unbeaten UCF is unlikely to matter much).
As important, though: The commissioners will act in concert with their schoolsâ presidents and chancellors.
âIf people wanted to talk about (expanding the Playoff), they could talk about it,â Delany said. âBut it comes really from the presidents. When we were going from two to four, it was with presidential consent. (To go) beyond that, they would have to ask us to do something.
âItâs not going to come from any one of us (commissioners) because weâre disappointed in a particular year.â
This is a key point, too: If Scott, Delany and others are not advocating for change, itâs in part because this particular yearâs results didnât leave too many power-brokers disappointed over the actual process.
âHad the SEC had two of the four yet again, it probably increases the conversation,â SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said at the Intercollegiate Athletics Forum. âI think thatâs a fair observation. Nobodyâs come to me and said, âWow, if that game outcome had been different, weâd have been pounding our fists on the table.ââ
No one can be sure what the reaction would have been had Georgia beaten Alabama in the SEC championship game and both teams gotten into the Playoff. But Alabama rallied for victory. And despite several hours of heated debate over whether Georgia, with two losses and without a conference championship, should or would get into the bracket ahead of a one-loss conference champion, that didnât happen either.
Oklahoma, the 12-1 Big 12 champion, was the No. 4 seed. Georgia, the 11-2 SEC runner-up, was No. 5. From the commissioners' standpoint, the selection committee correctly followed its prescribed protocol. The system worked.
By definition, at least one Power Five conference champion is left out every year. If one conference has two teams â or if Notre Dame goes unbeaten and gets in â more watch from the sidelines.
If both Alabama and Georgia had made the bracket, three Power Five leagues would have been left out. Could that have been a tipping point to at least start serious discussion? Maybe. With undefeated Clemson safely in, ACC commissioner John Swofford was essentially an interested bystander. But ...
âMy reaction (if that had happened) would have been, âIs enough weight being given to conference championships?'" Swofford said.
Along with his peers, Sankey noted the continuous external pressure to consider expanding, but said thereâs been none from âamong the group (of commissioner).â Even to begin serious discussion would take, according to Bowlsby, âa critical mass of people that want to talk about it.
âI donât sense weâre there,â he said.
Donât misunderstand, though. Even among the commissioners, thereâs a sense that at some point in the future, theyâll get there.
âWhat something feels like today may feel differently four years from now,â Swofford said.
He makes one other important point: The composition of commissioners â and presidents and chancellors â is likely to change in the next few years. Delany, 70, has indicated he would likely retire in 2020. Swofford turned 70 this month. Bowlsby turns 67 in January. The people who created the Playoff might not be the ones voting to expand it.
âThere will be different people around the room, too, frankly, five years from now, 10 years from now,â Swofford said. âMost things evolve in one way or another. I donât mean that in the sense that it evolves necessarily with growth (expansion). Weâll just have to see.
âBut I think weâve got it right for now, I really do.â
'Four works': Expanding College Football Playoff is not on agenda for decision-makers
Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby was glad to see his leagueâs champion included in the College Football Playoff. Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany was unhappy to see his champion outside the four-team bracket â again.
As the fifth edition of the Playoff nears kickoff, the conversation about whether and when it will expand continues to heat up. Itâs constant fodder for talk radio, but especially this month, in the weeks after the annual selection of the four-team bracket, with a fresh set of results to argue over, we hear calls for change.
Except where it matters.
The Power Five conference commissioners â who created the Playoff and would make any alterations â say they remain largely satisfied, that it is working as intended. And although some say they would not be opposed to considering something different at some point, they see no reason â and insist there is no impetus â to explore significant change now.
âFour works,â Bowlsby told USA TODAY by text message on Sunday, reiterating a point he has consistently made. âIt was hard to get to four with lots of compromises. We should be thoughtful, but shouldnât refuse to discuss.â
While itâs easy to grab and hold that very last part, donât discount the very first part, either. Bowlsbyâs sentiment has been echoed this month, publicly and privately, by many of his peers.
You think eight is great? Fine. So do many others. But four works, say the guys who matter.
And if anything, the bracket of Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame and Oklahoma forestalled any serious discussion of substantive change. It includes three conference champions and three unbeaten teams. Two conferences are on the outside looking in â but their commissioners are not exactly clamoring for inclusion or change.
During an appearance earlier this month at the annual Learfield/Sports Business Journal Intercollegiate Athletics Forum in New York, Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said he was disappointed his league was left out for the third time in five years, but essentially reiterated something heâd told reporters a few days earlier, before the Pac-12 championship game.
âFelt then, feel now, four is absolutely the right number,â Scott said then.
The same goes for Delany, whose league has missed the Playoff for two consecutive seasons. Delany said he believes the Big Ten has three teams that could win the national championship this season. None will have the chance. But since 12-1 Ohio State was ranked No. 6 by the selection committee â behind Oklahoma and SEC runner-up Georgia â Delany has declined several opportunities to lash out, even though the Big Tenâs champion has been left out three years in a row (in 2016, Ohio State got into the Playoff without winning the Big Ten, but Big Ten champ Penn State was edged out by Pac-12 champ Washington).
âWe knew what we were buying,â Delany said. âI donât have buyerâs remorse on this. We donât allow the (selection) committee or anybody else to define who we are.â
Rather than advocating change to the Playoff â either to the selection protocol or to the size of the field â Delany suggested the Big Ten could consider whether to scrap its divisional format and instead match its two best teams in its title game, the better to provide a push for the winner into the Playoff.
âIâve heard more conversation about that inside our league,â he said, but he added: âEverything is not about the College Football Playoff.â
Delany also noted the compromises made in creating the Playoff, which he described as an attempt to balance several varied interests, as well as the need for âcore consensusâ on any changes; they wonât come âby a 5-4 vote,â he said â though the important part of that might be which five commissioners were "yes" votes. Although the Playoffâs management committee is comprised of the commissioners of the 10 FBS conferences and Notre Dameâs athletic director, the Power Five conferences wield the, uh, power (itâs why the push by the American Athletic Conference commissioner Mike Aresco on behalf of unbeaten UCF is unlikely to matter much).
As important, though: The commissioners will act in concert with their schoolsâ presidents and chancellors.
âIf people wanted to talk about (expanding the Playoff), they could talk about it,â Delany said. âBut it comes really from the presidents. When we were going from two to four, it was with presidential consent. (To go) beyond that, they would have to ask us to do something.
âItâs not going to come from any one of us (commissioners) because weâre disappointed in a particular year.â
This is a key point, too: If Scott, Delany and others are not advocating for change, itâs in part because this particular yearâs results didnât leave too many power-brokers disappointed over the actual process.
âHad the SEC had two of the four yet again, it probably increases the conversation,â SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said at the Intercollegiate Athletics Forum. âI think thatâs a fair observation. Nobodyâs come to me and said, âWow, if that game outcome had been different, weâd have been pounding our fists on the table.ââ
No one can be sure what the reaction would have been had Georgia beaten Alabama in the SEC championship game and both teams gotten into the Playoff. But Alabama rallied for victory. And despite several hours of heated debate over whether Georgia, with two losses and without a conference championship, should or would get into the bracket ahead of a one-loss conference champion, that didnât happen either.
Oklahoma, the 12-1 Big 12 champion, was the No. 4 seed. Georgia, the 11-2 SEC runner-up, was No. 5. From the commissioners' standpoint, the selection committee correctly followed its prescribed protocol. The system worked.
By definition, at least one Power Five conference champion is left out every year. If one conference has two teams â or if Notre Dame goes unbeaten and gets in â more watch from the sidelines.
If both Alabama and Georgia had made the bracket, three Power Five leagues would have been left out. Could that have been a tipping point to at least start serious discussion? Maybe. With undefeated Clemson safely in, ACC commissioner John Swofford was essentially an interested bystander. But ...
âMy reaction (if that had happened) would have been, âIs enough weight being given to conference championships?'" Swofford said.
Along with his peers, Sankey noted the continuous external pressure to consider expanding, but said thereâs been none from âamong the group (of commissioner).â Even to begin serious discussion would take, according to Bowlsby, âa critical mass of people that want to talk about it.
âI donât sense weâre there,â he said.
Donât misunderstand, though. Even among the commissioners, thereâs a sense that at some point in the future, theyâll get there.
âWhat something feels like today may feel differently four years from now,â Swofford said.
He makes one other important point: The composition of commissioners â and presidents and chancellors â is likely to change in the next few years. Delany, 70, has indicated he would likely retire in 2020. Swofford turned 70 this month. Bowlsby turns 67 in January. The people who created the Playoff might not be the ones voting to expand it.
âThere will be different people around the room, too, frankly, five years from now, 10 years from now,â Swofford said. âMost things evolve in one way or another. I donât mean that in the sense that it evolves necessarily with growth (expansion). Weâll just have to see.
âBut I think weâve got it right for now, I really do.â
'Four works': Expanding College Football Playoff is not on agenda for decision-makers
