Saban and Tebow Warn Expanded College Football Playoff Weakens Tradition

Clear Facts

• Former Alabama coach Nick Saban and former Heisman winner Tim Tebow spoke against expanding the College Football Playoff from 12 to 24 teams.
• Saban said on ESPN’s College GameDay that only a handful of teams truly deserve playoff spots and that bowl games will disappear.
• Tebow argued on the SEC Network that the expansion removes the importance of regular-season consistency and makes college football too much like the NFL.

College football fans heard strong opinions Saturday morning on the proposed jump from a 12-team playoff to 24 teams.

Nick Saban delivered his thoughts from the College GameDay set on the BYU campus ahead of the Notre Dame matchup.

“People want to see the best teams in the Playoffs. There’s not 24 teams in the country that deserve to be in the playoffs,” Saban said. “I don’t think there’s 24 teams in the country that can win the championship.”

“Bowl games are gonna be a thing of the past.”

Saban also warned that the change would eliminate the SEC Championship Game, trading away tradition for more postseason slots.

Tebow shared his view on the SEC Network, focusing on what the expansion would do to the regular season.

“We changed the goal posts. Before it was about how consistent can you be throughout the season? Now it’s can you just get in and get hot at the right time?” Tebow stated.

“It takes away the consistency. Before you had to focus every single week and you had to show up and you had to bring your best. Now, you have weeks where you don’t have to show up.”

“One of the biggest reasons why I don’t like it, is because when you’re looking at this game (college football), there’s a few things that separate us: It’s the regular season,” Tebow added. “The regular season is so critical. It’s so important. Now you’re diluting something that was so special and it was one of the biggest differentiators from the rest of the country, and all of these other sports (college and pro).”

The proposal would grant first-round byes to the top eight seeds and award home playoff games to those teams.

Commentators such as Josh Pate have already said the public largely dislikes the plan, calling it an embarrassment for the sport.

Let us know what you think, please share your thoughts in the comments below.