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Creg Stephenson | cstephenson@al.com
Tim Brando is never shy with his opinions about college football, and the longtime TV host and analyst said Thursday he believes the current postseason structure is not serving the game as well as it should.
In an interview on "Sports Drive" on WNSP-105.5 FM in Mobile, Brando -- who now does college football and basketball play-by-play for Fox Sports -- said that three "blue blood" programs are virtually "automatic" to make this year's four-team College Football Playoff. That's not good for the game, he said.
"I submit to you right now that Alabama, Ohio State and Clemson are almost automatic for this year," Brando said. "So that leaves only one other spot. It could be another team from the SEC, particularly as weak as these conference schedules or non-conference schedules are in the Southeastern Conference."
As he did in an appearance on the Paul Finebaum Show on the SEC Network last week, Brando cited weak 2018 non-conference schedules for SEC powers Alabama and Georgia. He also noted that with perennial opponent Tennessee currently struggling as a program, Alabama's SEC crossover games were not exactly worthy tests either.
Brando said one possible fix would be to require all Power 5 conferences to play the same number of conference games. Currently, the Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12 play nine conference games each year, while the SEC and ACC play only eight.
But the biggest issue, he said, was the College Football Playoff selection committee's habit of giving the benefit of the doubt to so-called "blue blood" programs after they lose. As an example, he cited Alabama falling only to No. 5 overall (from No. 1) after losing by 12 points in its regular-season finale at Auburn last year.
"If you have a body of work over a long time, and a tremendous history, you're considered one of the blue bloods of the game, you're not going to fall as precipitously as others when you lose a game," Brando said. "Check the numbers on, how many spots did Alabama fall? I will guarantee you won't find them falling more than four spots in any given situation when they've lost a game, whether it was the two losses to Ole Miss they've had in recent years or the loss to Auburn (in 2017). The committee knew that by having them in the fifth position, that somebody had to lose the Georgia-Auburn game in the SEC championship, so Alabama was poised to be right in that spot.
"Other teams when they are undefeated and lose a game, they drop seven, eight, five spots, sometimes even out of the Top 10 altogether. That's what I mean by 'privileged' and by the way, they're not the only privileged team. Ohio State's another one, I believe Clemson's another one. Clemson lost Syracuse, for God's sake. They were a bad team, and (Clemson) still got in. So, it's not just Alabama."
Brando said that he would like more "diversity" on the College Football Playoff committee, including more representatives from "Group of Five" schools. Currently, there are three such committee members: former Southern Miss coach Jeff Bower, former Central Michigan coach Herb Deromedi and Robert Morris president Chris Howard, who played his college football at Air Force.
The other 10 committee members either played at, graduated from or currently work at Power 5 schools. Brando said he believes the best way to counteract this would be to expand the playoff to eight teams.
"In order to do that, the best thing to do, in my opinion, is go ahead and get this thing up to eight teams, and do so right away, so we can allow the
College Football Playoff year to have some new entries to the environment," Brando said. "... You only have four spots. If we have the same teams every year, or three of the four teams are the same as the year before, that's predictability. And I don't think college football wants that. The game has got as much parity in it as it ever has. There are more good teams out there than there before. I mean that across the board. You'd never know that just looking at what the College Football Playoff makeup is.
"I can predict to you right now who will play for the NBA championship next year, who will be in the Eastern and Western Conference finals, and that's enough to keep me uninterested in the NBA. I really don't care about it anymore. College football is certainly something I'm a lot more passionate about. But if we want to see the sport grow, if we want to bring more people to the game, and make the championship of college football as big as the Super Bowl, we need to include more teams and more of the country's geography into the process than we currently are."
Brando even argued that the BCS system -- which was in place from 1998-2013 and was charged with pairing only the top two teams in a national championship game -- was preferable to the current set-up. He cited the CFP's "nebulous" criteria, which requires only that the committee choose the four best teams in college football without being too specific as to how they might be identified.
Brando argued that the current system was "exclusionary" rather than "inclusionary." Teams without the historical pedigree of an Alabama or an Ohio State are at a disadvantage, he said.
"That's not what the College Football Playoff was put together to do," Brando said. "It was put together to make the championship more legitimate, less of a mythical championship and to be inclusive, to give more teams an opportunity to compete for the title. I would submit that even in the BCS era, it was easier then, because of the legitimate criteria that was in play, whether it was the computer polls, whether it was what you did non-conference, there was a more set area of expertise being utilized to determine what teams moved where in their standings. We don't have that now.
We're just leaving it up to the total opinion of a dozen people who all see the game the same way."
The College Football Playoff's contract with ESPN runs through the 2025 season, which means any changes to the format are not necessarily in the immediate offing. However, Brando said he has heard that there is a potential "out" clause that can be exercised every three years, which means that after the 2019 season, a potential expansion of the playoff might come up for discussion.
But assuming television ratings for the playoff don't crater, he wouldn't advise anyone to hold their breath waiting on an eight-team field. A six-team playoff -- with the top two seeds receiving a first-round bye -- is a possibility as well, he said.
"It's going to be once we see some diminishing returns as far as ratings are concerned," Brando said. "We're probably a ways away from that. The numbers have steadily improved with the exception of the one year where we had the two semifinals on New Year's Eve, which was obviously a horrible idea. ... But I still believe the numbers would be greater, that we'd see much higher ratings if the build-up to the championship game was an additional week. And that's all we're talking about is an additional week of college football if we go to eight.
"It doesn't have to be to eight right away. I would predict that if we do see expansion, initially it will be only to six teams. Then it will go from six to eight. In college football, we move at a snail's pace. Even though we know eight is the optimum number, six will be the starting point."
Tim Brando is never shy with his opinions about college football, and the longtime TV host and analyst said Thursday he believes the current postseason structure is not serving the game as well as it should.
Creg Stephenson | cstephenson@al.com
Tim Brando on Alabama's privilege, why College Football Playoff should expand, how BCS was better
In an interview on "Sports Drive" on WNSP-105.5 FM in Mobile, Brando -- who now does college football and basketball play-by-play for Fox Sports -- said that three "blue blood" programs are virtually "automatic" to make this year's four-team College Football Playoff. That's not good for the game, he said.
"I submit to you right now that Alabama, Ohio State and Clemson are almost automatic for this year," Brando said. "So that leaves only one other spot. It could be another team from the SEC, particularly as weak as these conference schedules or non-conference schedules are in the Southeastern Conference."
As he did in an appearance on the Paul Finebaum Show on the SEC Network last week, Brando cited weak 2018 non-conference schedules for SEC powers Alabama and Georgia. He also noted that with perennial opponent Tennessee currently struggling as a program, Alabama's SEC crossover games were not exactly worthy tests either.
Brando said one possible fix would be to require all Power 5 conferences to play the same number of conference games. Currently, the Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12 play nine conference games each year, while the SEC and ACC play only eight.
But the biggest issue, he said, was the College Football Playoff selection committee's habit of giving the benefit of the doubt to so-called "blue blood" programs after they lose. As an example, he cited Alabama falling only to No. 5 overall (from No. 1) after losing by 12 points in its regular-season finale at Auburn last year.
"If you have a body of work over a long time, and a tremendous history, you're considered one of the blue bloods of the game, you're not going to fall as precipitously as others when you lose a game," Brando said. "Check the numbers on, how many spots did Alabama fall? I will guarantee you won't find them falling more than four spots in any given situation when they've lost a game, whether it was the two losses to Ole Miss they've had in recent years or the loss to Auburn (in 2017). The committee knew that by having them in the fifth position, that somebody had to lose the Georgia-Auburn game in the SEC championship, so Alabama was poised to be right in that spot.
"Other teams when they are undefeated and lose a game, they drop seven, eight, five spots, sometimes even out of the Top 10 altogether. That's what I mean by 'privileged' and by the way, they're not the only privileged team. Ohio State's another one, I believe Clemson's another one. Clemson lost Syracuse, for God's sake. They were a bad team, and (Clemson) still got in. So, it's not just Alabama."
Brando said that he would like more "diversity" on the College Football Playoff committee, including more representatives from "Group of Five" schools. Currently, there are three such committee members: former Southern Miss coach Jeff Bower, former Central Michigan coach Herb Deromedi and Robert Morris president Chris Howard, who played his college football at Air Force.
The other 10 committee members either played at, graduated from or currently work at Power 5 schools. Brando said he believes the best way to counteract this would be to expand the playoff to eight teams.
"In order to do that, the best thing to do, in my opinion, is go ahead and get this thing up to eight teams, and do so right away, so we can allow the
College Football Playoff year to have some new entries to the environment," Brando said. "... You only have four spots. If we have the same teams every year, or three of the four teams are the same as the year before, that's predictability. And I don't think college football wants that. The game has got as much parity in it as it ever has. There are more good teams out there than there before. I mean that across the board. You'd never know that just looking at what the College Football Playoff makeup is.
"I can predict to you right now who will play for the NBA championship next year, who will be in the Eastern and Western Conference finals, and that's enough to keep me uninterested in the NBA. I really don't care about it anymore. College football is certainly something I'm a lot more passionate about. But if we want to see the sport grow, if we want to bring more people to the game, and make the championship of college football as big as the Super Bowl, we need to include more teams and more of the country's geography into the process than we currently are."
Brando even argued that the BCS system -- which was in place from 1998-2013 and was charged with pairing only the top two teams in a national championship game -- was preferable to the current set-up. He cited the CFP's "nebulous" criteria, which requires only that the committee choose the four best teams in college football without being too specific as to how they might be identified.
Brando argued that the current system was "exclusionary" rather than "inclusionary." Teams without the historical pedigree of an Alabama or an Ohio State are at a disadvantage, he said.
"That's not what the College Football Playoff was put together to do," Brando said. "It was put together to make the championship more legitimate, less of a mythical championship and to be inclusive, to give more teams an opportunity to compete for the title. I would submit that even in the BCS era, it was easier then, because of the legitimate criteria that was in play, whether it was the computer polls, whether it was what you did non-conference, there was a more set area of expertise being utilized to determine what teams moved where in their standings. We don't have that now.
We're just leaving it up to the total opinion of a dozen people who all see the game the same way."
The College Football Playoff's contract with ESPN runs through the 2025 season, which means any changes to the format are not necessarily in the immediate offing. However, Brando said he has heard that there is a potential "out" clause that can be exercised every three years, which means that after the 2019 season, a potential expansion of the playoff might come up for discussion.
But assuming television ratings for the playoff don't crater, he wouldn't advise anyone to hold their breath waiting on an eight-team field. A six-team playoff -- with the top two seeds receiving a first-round bye -- is a possibility as well, he said.
"It's going to be once we see some diminishing returns as far as ratings are concerned," Brando said. "We're probably a ways away from that. The numbers have steadily improved with the exception of the one year where we had the two semifinals on New Year's Eve, which was obviously a horrible idea. ... But I still believe the numbers would be greater, that we'd see much higher ratings if the build-up to the championship game was an additional week. And that's all we're talking about is an additional week of college football if we go to eight.
"It doesn't have to be to eight right away. I would predict that if we do see expansion, initially it will be only to six teams. Then it will go from six to eight. In college football, we move at a snail's pace. Even though we know eight is the optimum number, six will be the starting point."
Tim Brando is never shy with his opinions about college football, and the longtime TV host and analyst said Thursday he believes the current postseason structure is not serving the game as well as it should.
Creg Stephenson | cstephenson@al.com
Tim Brando on Alabama's privilege, why College Football Playoff should expand, how BCS was better
