Kentucky coach Will Stein dunks on ‘lame’ haters of College Football Playoff expansion

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Kentucky has never made the College Football Playoffs. They could make it to the playoffs this year, as well as the team has been playing. Meanwhile, the CFP is expanding to 24 teams, which will give more opportunities for teams to earn a playoff berth.

Many people are trashing the expansion to 24 teams, but Kentucky head coach Will Stein is not one of them, per On3.

“Everybody says the (regular season) games aren’t going to matter. Really? I think that’s a really lame take, to be honest. As far as I know every game in College Football is going to matter,” Stein said. “You telling me you wouldn’t want a Playoff game at Kroger Field? I think those takes are bad.”

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Kentucky has been ranked in the CFP rankings before. They were ranked six weeks in 2018, climbing as high as ninth before finishing 14th. In 2021, they were ranked three weeks, being ranked as high as 18th before finishing 22nd. In 2022, they were ranked just once, in Week 11, sitting 24th. Had the 24-team playoff existed since its inception in 2014, Kentucky would have made the playoffs twice.

Still, the knock on expanded playoffs is that teams with three or more losses would make the playoffs, diminishing the value of the regular season. In 2018, Kentucky lost three times in the regular season, all of them in SEC play, but just one to a ranked team. If there had been a 24-team playoff that year, Kentucky would have hosted a first-round game against Texas A&M. Kentucky had lost on the road to Texas A&M in overtime earlier that year.

An example of a diminished regular season comes in 2022. That year, Kentucky lost five times in the regular season, all of them in SEC play, and three of them to ranked teams. They did finish the season with a win over 25th-ranked Louisville. If they had made the playoffs, they would have visited Utah in the first round.

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