There’s no denying that whether you love him or hate him, Mississippi State head football coach Mike Leach is one of the most entertaining dudes in all of college football. Just go to YouTube, type in ‘Mike Leach quotes’ or ‘Mike Leach press conference’ and just sit back for hours. The man can go – and he has some of the wildest ideas on the planet. Personally, I love it. I think he’s the closest thing we’ll have to a real life Most Interesting Man in the World. But, Leach made headlines over the weekend when he used the Kentucky Derby for his case for expanding the College Football Playoff. I’ve been on the side of expansion for seven years now myself, but coach, I don’t think this one hit the way you wanted it to…
That horse winning the Kentucky Derby today, is good example of why an expanded college football playoff is needed. That horse hadn’t won all the races leading up, but it got its chance and that’s what happened.
— Mike Leach (@Coach_Leach) May 8, 2022
Coach, I want to join you on this crusade to expand the College Football Playoff. I really do. But, two things. One, logically, if a horse doesn’t win any races leading up to the event, should that horse really have a claim for a championship? Like…at a certain point, we do have to penalize losses, right? By this logic, wins and losses don’t even matter and we should just let everyone in. That’s too far to me, and I don’t know that it really made the point that Leach was hoping for. Also, you might ask yourself, “okay, well if Leach says we should expand, what does he think we should expand to?” When you look into that, you’ll quickly find that the man wants a 64-team format. I’m usually here for the circus, but that idea is absolutely bonkers.
I don’t know if this is the old negotiation tactic when you want 50, but you’ll ask for 80 and then settle on 65 just to see if you can get it. Or, if Leach truly believes that we need 64 teams….that 64 teams in college football are deserving of a crack at the National Championship. But, if we go by CBS Sports’ college football rankings, that would’ve meant Georgia State, Virginia, Liberty, and Central Michigan, among others would’ve earned bids to the playoff tourney. Also, there’s a good chance that at 64, teams with losing records actually get in as well. On that same list from CBS Sports, Louisville, North Carolina, and LSU would all have gotten in at 6-7, and Texas would’ve gotten in at 5-7.
How could anyone go that far? Like I said, I’m happy to talk expansion. I want to see it, but for me, my number is eight, and I can’t justify going higher than that. Eight teams gives you guaranteed spots for the champions of all five major conferences, along with one spot dedicated for the Group of Five. That leaves two wild card spots for at-large bids. I kept up with this idea for the better part of four years in my ‘College Football Power Rankings’ column, but no one ever read it, so I stopped doing it. My point is that putting this into practice from 2016-19, I found that very rarely did we get two-loss teams into the playoff under that format, which has been a major point of criticism of expansion. You move to 12, that’s going to change. But, if you stick to eight, it’s not that big of a “devaluation” of the regular season. So, I’m with you, coach – we need more than four….but let’s not make that leap from four to 64, mmkay?
Also, hey – this post can serve as a reminder to go ahead and subscribe to the College Football Roundup on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you take in your shows. My co-host, Steven McCash, and I are going to be gearing up for the 2022 season in the coming months, so why not go ahead and get it in your regular slate of college football podcasts?!
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley
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