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‘I can’t believe I’m saying this’: Urban Meyer now in favor of College Football Playoff expansion

Ryan Williamson

By Ryan Williamson

Published:

2020 has caused us to rethink a lot of things. For former Ohio State head coach and current FOX analyst Urban Meyer, that means changing his opinion on the College Football Playoff.

Previously, Meyer was not in favor of expanding the playoff beyond the current four-team system. But with the chaos this season has provided, Meyer has changed his tune.

“I can’t believe it either, but I have had some really deep conversations with colleagues and the game is changing and I think the Playoff — I can’t believe I’m saying this because I’m a traditionalist, I love the bowl games, I love the experiences — but you have two different sets of groups. The elite group, the high-profilers and the not-so-high-profilers,” Meyer said.

“There are two things that college football players care about, NFL and College Football Playoff. If that’s not gonna happen, they’re not gonna play in bowl games. I’m not saying all of them, but I know coaches are dealing with that on a day to day basis. Expand the Playoff — I can’t believe I’m saying that — because more players are going to be involved.”

Meyer came to this conclusion by looking at what players are prioritizing in this day and age in college football. It’s the NFL and College Football Playoff. Players are willing to sit out bowl games if they are not one of the two CFP semifinals.

Instead of thinking about the additional teams added to this potential plan, Meyer is thinking about more players and them being less likely to opt out if they are in the playoff. That’s certainly a good point and different way to think about the playoff system.

The conversation on FOX’s pregame show continued with Brady Quinn talking about an elite group that featured Clemson, Alabama and Ohio State being in the playoff and the impact that has on recruiting.

Matt Leinart put in his two cents talking about the possibility of eliminating divisions and having the two best teams in each conference play in the title game. That seems entirely appropriate when in conferences such as the SEC, there are clearly two top teams and everyone else kind of just follows behind.

It seems that the consensus is that something has to change with the CFP. College football has never been on the progressive side of change, so it may take a while.

Ryan Williamson