College football took a big step toward postseason expansion this week when College Football Playoff officials agreed to open a 30-day negotiating window with ESPN concerning a 24-team CFP field that could begin as soon as 2027.
But would such an expansion encourage or discourage high-profile nonconference games like Saturday’s clash between No. 1 Ohio State and No. 4 Texas football in Austin?
It’s a question that puzzled Steve Sarkisian, even though the Longhorns’ head coach knows what the answer should be.
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“I would think (CFP expansion) would encourage them,” Sarkisian said Thursday. “I would hope that it wouldn’t diminish the magnitude of it, though, right? And I think that’s probably one of the concerns for those that are advocating for not expanding is the importance of the regular season in college football. If we expand, one of the arguments is that, well, now we’re getting a watered-down regular season, and I think one of the beauties of our sport is because of games like we’re having Saturday (and) what that game could mean big-picture down the road.”
Sarkisian knows the big-picture impact of such games better than most. Last year, Texas lost 14-7 at Ohio State in the season-opener and finished the regular season 9-3 and in the No. 13 spot in the final CFP regular-season rankings. That meant the Longhorns finished out of the 12-team CFP and behind qualifying teams such as Oklahoma, which went 10-2 but lost to the Longhorns, and Texas A&M, which went 11-1 but also lost to the Longhorns.
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Yes, Texas also lost to a middling Florida squad in October, a setback that ultimately cost it a CFP spot. But since the end of last season, Sarkisian has insisted that his team would have reached the playoff with a 10-2 record if it had played a nonconference slate like national champion Indiana, which beat Old Dominion, Kennesaw State and Indiana State.
Games such as Saturday’s showdown with Ohio State shouldn’t harm a team’s résumé, Sarkisian said, especially when one squad loses a hard-fought battle like Texas did last season in Ohio.
“Let’s not punish the teams that play in these games,” he said. “I’ve said all along I hope we can keep these games. I’m not saying we need to go more into in the CFP, all I’m saying is reward the teams that are playing in these games.”
Whether the addition of more playoff games and the elimination of conference championship games would reward the networks enough will likely determine playoff expansion. The Power Four conference championship games have media value of at least $200 million, according to an ESPN story. That value doesn’t include the tens of millions that the games generate in tickets, sponsorships and other game-day revenue.
The Big Ten and SEC, the nation’s two preeminent football conferences, have the two largest broadcast deals. Those conferences need to agree on the future playoff format by Dec. 1 if the CFP structure is going to change in time for next season, according to the memorandum of understanding the CFP management committee members signed.
According to ESPN, If ESPN and the CFP don’t reach agreement in the 30-day period, the CFP can then shop the net 10 additional games to the open market with ESPN retaining certain matching rights.
This article originally published at Steve Sarkisan hopes CFP expansion would help, not hurt, more games like Texas vs Ohio State.
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