Josh Pate: Playing for seeding ‘one of the dumbest aspects of CFP expansion arguments’

Josh Pate: Playing for seeding ‘one of the dumbest aspects of CFP expansion arguments’

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Josh Pate: Playing for seeding ‘one of the dumbest aspects of CFP expansion arguments’
Brent Venables, Josh Pate
Credit: USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect, Josh Pate

Every day, we hear a new explanation for why expanding the College Football Playoff to 24 teams is good for the game.

It’s not often that any of those explanations hold much water.

The latest angle comes courtesy of Oklahoma Sooners coach Brent Venables, who said this past week that an expanded CFP wouldn’t damage the regular season because of the bye weeks and the playoff’s seeding structure. Since the top 8 teams would earn a bye and a home game, and the top two teams would have “the best path all the way through,” teams would still play to win every regular-season game.

“You still are playing for seeding,” Venables said. “So I still think you’re earning staying power and leverage once you get into the playoffs, too. So to me the regular season’s always mattered, always will, and those games are critical.”

College football voice Josh Pate doesn’t buy that argument.

“The idea that playing for seeding will carry the same urgency as playing for survival is one of the dumbest aspects of CFP expansion arguments,” he wrote on X, responding to Venables’ quote.

“Seeding matters to YOUR fan base,” he continued. “Survival matters to EVERYONE. How people can’t see this is beyond me.”

Much of the backing for the expanded CFP, at least publicly, comes from coaches like Venables, who would love more opportunities to make the CFP, which presumably makes their jobs safer. His Sooners went 10-3 last year and made it to the first round of the CFP. Under the current 12-team setup, that record might not be good enough to make the cut every year. But with 24 teams, a 10-3 Oklahoma gets in pretty much every time.

Of course, the idea that this makes it better for coaches doesn’t account for the natural shift in expectations that will happen with a 24-team tournament. Making the CFP will no longer be considered special, and coaches will still get fired for falling short of a championship.

Maybe coaches like Venables will get their wish, but expansion is a true be-careful-what-you-wish-for scenario.

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