The calls for change are already being voiced about the college football postseason. Sure, the College Football Playoff may expand at some point, but executive director Bill Hancock says that will not be happening during the first 12 years of the new postseason format in college football.
“It is going to be four (teams) for 12 years,” Hancock said (per Brett McMurphy of ESPN.com via Twitter) while speaking with members of the media at the SEC meetings on Tuesday. “There is no talk in our group about (increasing playoff field).”
The College Football Playoff has a 12-year agreement in place with ESPN. It would make sense that a successful four-team tournament could spark interest in expansion to offer more games and make more money, but Hancock is firm in saying that will not happen during the first 12 years. Hancock is simply selling the company line for the College Football Playoff. Nobody knows whether this new system will be a success or a failure. The least we can do is play at least one season before exploring its future changes or modifications.
Hancock took time to share some other thoughts regarding the College Football Playoff as well. Among the thoughts shared, Hancock said everyone is interested to see how the selection committee operates, which makes sense since this is a brand new feature in college football. Asked how scheduling FCS opponents might be viewed by the selection committee, Hancock suggested it may not be quite as much of a drawback as some might expect.
“North Dakota State may be better than ‘team Y’ in one of our (FBS) conferences,” Hancock noted. North Dakota State opened the 2013 season by winning at Kansas State, the defending Big 12 champions. North Dakota State went on to win the FCS national championship against Towson, another FCS program with a victory over FBS competition last fall (Connecticut).
There are good, quality FCS programs out there, make no mistake about that, but even Hancock must know there are only a small handful of FCS programs capable of beating even the lowest level of FBS programs out there.