Texas Football: Should the Longhorns be in favor of an 8-team Playoff?
Texas football would be one step closer to making its first ever College Football Playoff if the field were to expand to eight teams.
The discussion was bound to start eventually. Should the College Football Playoff expand from a four team field to eight team? Many fans are in favor of the move while more traditional ones are not. Where should Texas football fans lie on the spectrum? That answer is easy to jump at for Texas football fans, but requires some careful thought before anything is instituted.
The Texas football program looks to be on the brink of the national title contention picture at the outset of the 2019 off-season. Texas football fans are going to be chomping at the bit to have the beginning of the 2019 regular season get here. The 2019 campaign could be one where the Texas Longhorns hold a top 10 ranking in the nation in the preseason polls.
However, before we get to the point of hyping up the Texas football program for the 2019 season, we need to get through the Sugar Bowl this year against the Georgia Bulldogs. Take down Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, and the fans can start to pose a legitimate argument that this team is a bona fide College Football Playoff contender from the outset of the 2019 regular season.
When a team is sitting on the brink of Playoff contention in the near future, it’s easy to get excited about the prospect of expansion to eight teams. According to Yahoo Sports, there has been some discussion about the proposition among a few prominent figures in college football. However, reports indicated that Bill Hancock (CFP Executive Director) was shutting down the idea of actual expansion talks on Dec. 2.
As long as the national media, from The Athletic to CBS Sports, is making arguments for the Playoff to expand there will be some prominent discussion among fans. Texas football fans, in particular, should be for this idea of Playoff expansion since it could soon play a prominent role in the national title picture.
The main reason that Horns fans should be excited about this idea is the fact that the Big 12 would have a clear path to nearly guaranteeing at least one team in the Playoff each year. Big 12 teams like the Horns and Oklahoma Sooners could be prominent contenders year in and year out for a spot in the Playoff.
Some national pundits feel that the Playoff expansion would be too much for the way that college football operates during the postseason. Adding the Playoff in the first place put a heavier emphasis on the postseason, and took something away from the rest of the bowls. There is an argument against it. That argument just isn’t as strong against Playoff expansion for the Horns as it is for the eight-team field.
This discussion surrounding Playoff expansion is likely to continue throughout the off-season and on into the 2019 season. It’s hard to imagine that the expansion could actually take place until the 2020 season at the earliest. And, considering there aren’t any rumors of Playoff expansion that have any backing to them from the Selection Committee of CFP Board of Directors itself, it isn’t probable to happen any time within the next two or three years.
How Texas does in the Sugar Bowl will be a big indication as to how this team can handle the national stage like a New Year’s Six Bowl. If the Horns can handle that, there would be a lot of excitement as to this team’s contender status for 2019 and 2020. That could give some momentum as to the push for an eight-team Playoff expansion from a Texas perspective.