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Report: Buckeyes AD suggests hittting ‘pause button’ on Playoff expansion conversation
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A lot of momentum was generated about the expansion of the College Football Playoff during the offseason. Talks seriously heated up and there’s a temporary proposal to increase the number of participants from four teams to 12.
It seemed like it was going to be one of the top priorities for conference commissioners and the College Football Playoff committee. But with recent news of Texas and Oklahoma exiting the Big 12 and busting down the door into the SEC, Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith believes there needs to be a pause in the talks.
Temporarily, at least.
Departures of Texas and Oklahoma into the SEC could be the start of a domino effect in college athletics. Other conferences will undoubtedly look into expanding as well in an attempt to keep pace with the league. It will likely be a hectic few months even without Playoff talk.
“I think the pause button should be hit,” Smith told Yahoo’s Pete Thamel. “We need to evaluate the landscape and what it’s going to look like. We still need to evaluate the 12-team Playoff. We don’t need to rush into that when there’s legitimate concerns that need to be addressed.”
College athletics, and college football in particular, has seen a lot of change since the confetti fell at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami in January. Along with expansion talk and realignment moves, there’s also been rule changes to the game, the implementation of new name, image and likeness policies and a one-time transfer rule.
It really has been a revolutionary year in college athletics.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB