CFB Fans HATE This New Playoff Idea - Josh Pate's College Football Show

0:00 College football playoff talk.

0:01 Been a lot of it over the past 72 hours, 96 hours now.

0:06 I have never seen a major proposal in college football this unpopular.

0:12 I'm not sure the powers that be understand exactly how unpopular this is.

0:17 This is not a 30/70 issue.

0:20 This is like a 10/90 issue, for versus against.

0:24 And for once in my life,

0:26 there is a college football playoff-related topic that I

0:30 get to hang out in the majority on.

0:32 It feels great.

0:33 This must be how expansionists feel all the time, up until recently.

0:38 Cuz now recently, a lot of former expansionists have seen the light,

0:42 and they've come over to our side,

0:43 Jesse, which makes you wonder, did they come over to the dark side,

0:46 or did they leave the dark side,

0:48 or do we not even need to use that terminology because we're all friends now,

0:53 and we're just going to forget about the past?

0:55 The feedback I got from the Thursday show,

0:59 where we spent 37 minutes off the top of the show just

1:03 trying to bat down every bad-faith

1:05 college football playoff expansion argument there is,

1:08 has been unlike anything I've seen in the past year.

1:11 The last time we got this much feedback on a topic

1:16 on this show was when Nico Iamaleava left Tennessee.

1:20 Uh cuz a lot of Tennessee fans weighed

1:22 in, but a lot of people outside of the Tennessee

1:24 fan base weighed in, cuz they viewed it

1:27 as an issue that was bigger than just Tennessee.

1:29 And yeah, it was.

1:30 Uh but not since Nico bailed out on Tennessee

1:34 have I gotten this much feedback on a single topic.

1:36 And I'd say 80% of it has been in support of, but that just

1:41 means one out of every five is still a dissenting voice.

1:45 So, I want to talk, cuz there are some things even in those 37

1:48 minutes the other night that we didn't really fully close the loop on.

1:53 So, I just want to encourage everyone.

1:55 It's almost like a little coaching session here.

1:58 Since most of you hold the same opinion I do here,

2:01 and that is that expanding to 24 teams is one

2:04 of the stupider ideas that you've ever heard in your life,

2:06 and it would not ruin the regular season entirely,

2:11 it would greatly damage the regular season.

2:13 Most of you, like me, think the regular season in college football is unique.

2:17 It's one of one, and it's the most valuable commodity college football has.

2:20 Not everyone feels that way.

2:23 Some of you have voiced your opinion that you

2:26 view the playoff as greater than the regular season.

2:30 Just means you and I don't view the sport the same.

2:32 That's fine, and that's basically the end of that, and we

2:35 probably will not agree on this because of that.

2:38 Uh but for the rest of you, yeah, I just want to make sure that we understand.

2:45 You got to stay on the main road here.

2:47 You're going to have a lot of debate over this.

2:49 You're going to debate your buddies over this.

2:51 You're going to hear a lot of debate on this.

2:53 Some of you may even get microphones thrown in your face at some point.

2:56 Who knows?

2:56 Jesse, we may have a town hall event.

2:58 Andy Staples, Andy and Ari the other day trying to um

3:03 trying to coordinate what what it would essentially be like Live Aid,

3:07 but just for college football.

3:09 Yeah.

3:10 Farm Aid, but for college football.

3:12 Uh it would be a We Are the World moment, but for college football.

3:15 And instead of world-class singers, it would just be podcasters.

3:19 Uh but for the greater good of college football, of course.

3:22 And then, you know, you got to come up with a charity, and look, I mean,

3:25 I don't think we're going to be

3:27 able to significantly fight AIDS with this movement,

3:30 but we could save Arkansas's men's tennis team.

3:32 We could do something.

3:33 We could have some kind of worthwhile charity.

3:35 So, anyway, stay on the main road as I just got off of mine.

3:41 Stay on the main road.

3:42 I brought this up the other day, and I'm going to bring it up once more.

3:46 I have heard a lot of people saying, "Oh,

3:49 we should not expand to 24 teams because there aren't

3:52 24 teams capable of winning a national title any given year.

3:56 And listen, you're you're right.

3:58 Of course you're right.

4:00 I agree with you.

4:01 You're right.

4:02 That's not the logic here.

4:04 That's not the point.

4:06 Because I would counter with this.

4:08 What if there are 24 teams who are capable of winning it?

4:11 What if there are 40 teams capable of winning it?

4:13 Now, of course we know that would never really be true,

4:16 but just walk it through with me.

4:17 That's not the logic here.

4:19 That's not the point.

4:20 The point is in expanding to a number like 24,

4:24 you detrimentally affect the regular season.

4:27 You see, people like us look at someone

4:30 who is a pretty good team, Texas last year.

4:34 Texas lost three regular season games.

4:36 Texas was like 15th or 16th or something like that at the end of the year.

4:41 You could sell me that if Texas made it into the playoff,

4:45 theoretically they could have made a run.

4:47 They could have won it all.

4:48 I don't care.

4:49 I don't care.

4:51 They just went through a playoff 3 months long.

4:54 It was called the regular season.

4:56 That was the test for Texas.

4:59 They failed it last year.

5:01 Vanderbilt failed it last year.

5:03 The year before, Bama failed it.

5:05 Ole Miss failed it.

5:06 South Carolina failed it.

5:08 Last year, Notre Dame failed it.

5:10 You don't think Notre Dame could have made a run if they got in?

5:12 Of course they could.

5:13 They could have won the whole thing if they got in.

5:16 That is not an indication to me that the playoff is not big enough.

5:20 That's an indication to me the playoff is just

5:22 the right size to let in teams who are minorly flawed.

5:29 Not many undefeated records in that playoff last year.

5:31 So, don't be selling me on the current status

5:34 of the playoff is lose a game and you're done.

5:37 No, it's not.

5:38 The current status of the playoff is it's big

5:40 enough for you to slip up a little bit,

5:42 but it's not big enough for you to slip up infinite amounts of times.

5:46 You can't be losing a quarter of your games to a third

5:47 of your games and still having that safety net under you.

5:51 So, I don't really care how many teams could win it.

5:55 How many teams in this balance we've struck of 12 teams right now,

5:59 how many teams are good enough to win it that earned their way in?

6:02 That's really all I care about.

6:04 Uh you will also, of course,

6:06 hear a lot of people when you present that that say,

6:09 "Well, every other sport has a bigger playoff." Don't care.

6:13 Don't care.

6:14 I don't really even entertain that cuz college football's one of one to me.

6:18 Uh all due respect to any other sport out there,

6:20 there is no other sport like this.

6:23 So, you cannot compare the template

6:24 or the blueprint of any other sport out there

6:28 to this sport because there are varying

6:30 degrees of major difference between this and that.

6:33 Uh bowl fallacy I did not address the other night.

6:36 So, I got to address it right now.

6:38 The bowl fallacy is going to be thrown around from expansionists

6:42 desperate to find a solid piece of logic to cling to.

6:47 And that solid piece of logic they think they have found to cling to is,

6:52 stop me if you've heard this recently,

6:54 "Why I'd rather see college football playoff games

6:56 than meaningless bowl games?" Have Haven't you heard that?

6:59 I mean, come on.

7:00 Now, bowl season's been rendered totally irrelevant.

7:04 At least if we're going to have a bunch of games in December,

7:06 let's make them playoff games instead of meaningless bowl games.

7:11 Longtime viewers will understand the smirk on my face when I even mention that.

7:18 Because longtime viewers of and listeners

7:21 to the program will remember when expansion

7:24 was first floated and I put a scenario out there and I said,

7:29 "Hey, do me one favor right here.

7:31 Look down.

7:31 Are you subscribed to the channel?

7:33 If you are, thank you.

7:34 If you're not, please click subscribe.

7:36 It helps us keep the show free and free

7:38 of corporate interference." All right, that's it for me.

7:40 Back to the clip.

7:42 Here's what's about to happen.

7:44 They are going to expand the playoff, but it's not going to stop.

7:47 I hoped they go to eight, but they went to 12,

7:49 but whatever it was, I fought hard against it because I said,

7:52 "It's not going to stop there." Cuz what's going to happen is the last remaining

7:57 value in bowl season is going to be

7:59 sucked out because playoff access is the currency.

8:02 It's the oxygen in the sport now, and if you don't make a playoff game,

8:06 well, then all of your players are just going to opt out of the bowl games.

8:09 And right on cue, teams that didn't make

8:13 the playoff saw their players opt out of bowl games.

8:16 That is a mess created by playoff expansion.

8:20 And so, what was the recourse going to be?

8:22 Well, it it's certainly not to go back in time.

8:25 We can't do that, Jesse.

8:26 That's that's a lack of progress.

8:27 That's going backwards on progress.

8:28 We can't go back in time.

8:30 So, instead, what will the answer be?

8:32 The answer from the expansionist crowd will be just expand it further.

8:37 Man, now that bowl games were irrelevant, let's just expand it further.

8:41 Expansion created the mess of meaningless bowl games.

8:45 Here's how you don't clean up a mess.

8:47 By expanding more of what created the mess.

8:51 And also, if I may be so bold, because I did call this a few years ago,

8:57 so maybe I've got a little equity built up here.

8:59 If I may be so bold,

9:01 for those of you who do think that bowl games are meaningless,

9:04 I have yet to see the law where you're forced to watch them, by the way.

9:08 But, for those of you who do think bowl games are meaningless,

9:12 and expanding the college football playoff

9:14 will replace meaningless games with meaningful games.

9:18 Just a nice little one-to-one trade-off.

9:20 Could I ask you, does that rid of rid rid us of meaningless games?

9:26 Does expanding the playoff to get rid of meaningless bowl games and exchanging

9:30 them for meaningful playoff games Does

9:32 that mean we don't have meaningless games anymore?

9:35 Are you sure about that?

9:37 Or could it be much as is currently the case

9:42 even in the National Football League that we get towards

9:44 the end of the year with a globe of teams

9:47 that know they're guaranteed playoff access probably by early November,

9:52 but especially the second and third weeks of November,

9:54 and what happens if I'm just going to play

9:57 my quarterback for the first half of this game, Jesse.

10:00 Or early early second half.

10:03 I mean, I know I've kind of got my range of spot in the playoff locked up.

10:08 I'm pulling starters.

10:10 What does that do to the integrity of those games?

10:13 But here's the problem now.

10:14 I'm no longer talking about postseason games.

10:17 I'm talking about regular season games.

10:20 No one ever really walks this through to its illogical

10:23 conclusion cuz no one thinks that can happen in college football.

10:27 You've just fooled yourself into thinking oh,

10:30 that's yeah, that's a pro sports problem.

10:33 You know, the very one-to-one the apples-to-apples

10:35 comparison they always want you to make.

10:36 Well, the NFL does it.

10:38 Well, the NBA does it.

10:39 Why can't college football do it?

10:40 Well, okay, let's ask ourselves.

10:42 Are there any negative ramifications from a playoff

10:46 field that big in the National Football League?

10:47 I watch it every single What is it?

10:49 Week 16?

10:50 Week 17?

10:51 I watch it all the time.

10:53 I watch it cuz we're in here doing work on our Sunday show and I'm looking

10:56 at updates on ESPN countdown to kickoff and it's

11:00 who will start and who will rest today?

11:02 And you're telling me that we're just immune from that in college football.

11:06 Yeah.

11:06 We're All we're doing when we expand is we're getting rid of meaningless games.

11:10 We're never just reassigning meaninglessness to other games.

11:14 It's a fallacy.

11:16 Just like most of the arguments that expansionists make.

11:19 And I would encourage you cuz I've been

11:21 doing this all weekend and I'm still batting a thousand cuz any idiot can do it

11:25 once you understand the totality of the situation.

11:29 If someone wants to argue that the 2014 playoff benefits college football,

11:34 make them defend their point with what is sure to be flawed logic.

11:39 Now, I got a lot of people who I respect.

11:42 I got a lot of buddies.

11:43 Not a lot.

11:44 I got a few.

11:45 I could probably count them on a couple of hands,

11:46 but I got a few buddies, a few holdouts, who are still pushing this nonsense.

11:52 And to them I ask this, are you telling me

11:55 that expanding to 24 teams is a net positive for college football?

12:01 They will say yes.

12:02 I ask them why.

12:04 Uh their answers are your biggest weapon, so keep asking questions.

12:08 And I ask them why, and they inevitably say, "Well,

12:10 it gives more access." And more access means what, of course?

12:14 Well, it means more playoff implications on more games, which means,

12:18 according to these people whose only

12:19 currency is college football playoff ramifications,

12:22 that means there's more meaning on more games later in the season.

12:28 Make sure you have them repeat that.

12:31 Because your next question is going to be, just like mine is,

12:35 "So if you're telling me that expansion

12:37 and a bigger playoff field means more access, more meaning on more games,

12:45 why would we stop at 24?" If it's just all positive,

12:50 if the bigger the playoff field,

12:53 the bigger the benefit to college football, why would we stop at 24?

12:58 Why would we stop at 44?

13:00 Why Why would there ever be a limit?

13:02 Why would we not full Lindsay Lohan this thing?

13:04 Just the limit does not exist.

13:06 Why would we not do that?

13:09 What's the magic number?

13:11 What's Hey, the threshold for me is 12, okay?

13:13 So I'm giving you my number.

13:15 Don't go past 12.

13:17 Well, once they start to get a little squeamish there,

13:19 they say, "Well, you can't just expand forever." Why not?

13:23 And if you can't, what's the number?

13:26 Is 24 the number?

13:28 Hey, question.

13:30 Why 24?

13:33 Cuz that's what Tony Petitti told you?

13:35 What if he said 28?

13:36 Would that have been the magic number?

13:38 What if it was 32?

13:40 Did Did you come up with 24 on your own?

13:42 No.

13:43 And the biggest lie of all and this is probably something I'm going to have

13:47 to wait and talk a lot more about once the cards are on the table.

13:53 I've talked for a while on this show about what

13:56 I think really is the biggest lie in all of this.

13:58 And the biggest lie in all of this is that we

14:01 have to expand the playoff even if some of us don't

14:03 like it cuz that's the only way we can get the revenue

14:06 we need for life to continue on as we know it.

14:09 Not just for college football, but for non-revenue generating sports.

14:13 And I have sat here and told you, and I'll tell you once more, that is a lie.

14:19 That is garbage.

14:21 It is one way to increase revenue that you need.

14:25 It's not the way, nor is it even the best way,

14:29 but it's certainly not the only way to increase revenue.

14:32 It's just that the alternatives in the aggregate make certain power

14:37 brokers in the sport relinquish a little bit of a percentage

14:41 of that control that they currently have even if it means

14:44 more money in their pockets at the end of the day.

14:48 Crazy times, I know.

14:50 But, this is not lollipop and unicorn land.

14:53 This is not 5 years down the road stuff.

14:56 This is uh days down the road stuff.

14:59 So, I think the picture on other options

15:03 for increasing the revenue necessary to run this sport

15:07 and other sports properly may come a little more

15:09 into focus in the next couple of weeks even.

15:12 Let's all hope.