Clemson football: Dabo Swinney gives harsh opinion on playoff expansion

The NCAA College Football Playoff is flirting with expanding to 12 teams over the previous four-team format. While some teams may be for the expansion, coach Dabo Swinney of Clemson is not. 

The College Football Playoff has been so far so good over the past seven years. It’s well received, save for this season’s TV rating being lower than usual. But despite this, there’s already been talks about expanding the four-team format to twelve to incorporate more teams into the playoff contention.

Their reasoning can vary, from money (obviously the main reason) to bring to host sites, to TV deals expanding, to teams getting an opportunity to actually get a chance in the playoffs. Nonetheless, it doesn’t sound that great to just go from four to 12 so quickly. There’s even been talks of expanding to 16. 

While the NCAA finds opportunity in expanding the CFP to 12 teams, Dabo Swinney doesn’t agree

Clemson head coach and man of many opinions, Dabo Swinney, says that a 12-team expansion is probably the worst thing that you can do. On top of that, he’s never been a fan of the football playoff format. He told The Athletic that he never really got down with the idea when it first came to fruition in 2014:

On top of that, it’s taxing on players. How do you fit in playoff games for 12 teams without extending the schedule? I can agree with Swinney in this category as well: Do we have 12 teams that are playoff contenders?

There are far better alternatives to expanding the playoff bracket, such as relegation and easing into more teams gradually versus making a quick addition automatically. For now, Swinney wants to just stick with what we’ve got.