Jun. 25—CHAMPAIGN — College baseball has 64 teams qualify for its postseason. Men's basketball is at 68 teams with a push to add more.
So the four-team College Football Playoff was ridiculously small.
Thankfully and finally, it is being fixed. And Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman is all for it.
Starting this season, the number of qualifiers is tripling to 12. December Madness? You betcha.
"I don't have a lot of concern around the expanded playoff," Whitman said. "I think it's a smart move. It provides opportunity to a lot more programs. Ultimately, what's exciting about it for me is creates interest in the sport deeper in the season."
Whitman is a bright guy who knows the math.
"Even though only 12 teams are going to get into the playoff, as you enter into the last month of the season, there's probably going to be 30 teams that are still in the mix," Whitman said. "So each of those fan bases are going to be energized and active and the media is going to be curious and following."
You had me at "more." No sales job needed. What is almost a guarantee after this season is that college football fans will ask the obvious: What took so long?
There isn't a great answer for that one. Stubbornness perhaps. Clinging to the old ways for no apparent reason. My preference is to advance, which explains why there is no rotary phone (ask your parents) in my home.
The administration of college football has always been a mess, with stakeholders making decisions that held back the game. They lost, fortunately, and the fans will reap the benefits. The Illinois AD, 45, sees the positive in the new number.
"It adds a lot of drama to the end of the season, far beyond who is going to be No. 5 and who's going to be No. 6," Whitman said. "We're talking about a dozen or more additional teams who still have a legitimate chance when the calendar turns to November to get into that field."
Work in progress
Longer term, there are still details to be worked out. For 2024, we know that the CFP selection committee will seed the teams 1 through 12. The top-four seeds will have the opening round off, what is correctly known as a "bye."
Seeds 5, 6, 7 and 8 will host 9, 10, 11 and 12 at their campus stadiums.
Using my current preseason Top 25, the four home teams would be Mississippi, Alabama, Michigan and Missouri, with LSU, Penn State, Notre Dame and Florida State visiting. The byes go to Ohio State, Georgia, Texas and Oregon. The only cold-weather game in the first round would be Penn State at Michigan. No real advantage there.
My projected bracket includes six teams from the SEC and four from the Big Ten. The final numbers will be close to that, though I only have three conferences (plus Notre Dame) represented and the rules call for the five highest-rated conference champions to receive automatic bids. That means a school from outside the Power Four is getting in. Again, using my rankings, the team would be Memphis from the American Athletic Conference.
"In this new environment, I think there will be three-loss teams coming out of the Big Ten and SEC getting access to the CFP," Whitman said. "And I think that really adds a layer of intrigue to the regular season."
Historically, Illinois would have made the 12-team field in 2001 (10-1 regular season) and been in the conversation in 2007 (9-3). Bret Bielema's 8-4 team in 2022 was oh-so-close to two or three more wins, which would have been enough in a 12-team field.
"Getting into a four-team playoff, really, really hard," Whitman said. "Getting into a 12-team playoff for a school like the University of Illinois, we absolutely should have that objective. And I know in talking to Bret, that is our expectation. That's where we hope to take the program."
There is a scheduling component. Illinois plays Power Four school Kansas this season and Duke in 2025 and 2026. It also starts a long series with Missouri in 2026.
When the criteria for qualification is better defined, ideas on nonconference scheduling will be decided.
"If, for example, a conference like the Big Ten is in a position to realize a broader number of qualifiers into the tournament, then I think it puts you in position to be able to have a more competitive regular-season nonconference schedule," Whitman said. "If we continue to have just a single (automatic qualifier) and everything else is judged on at-large, I think you need to really consider what games you are taking on in the nonconference and how you put your team in the best position to get into that at-large conversation."
Whitman hopes the conference title games continue. The Big Ten holds championship annually in Indianapolis and it has been a big hit.
Taking a turn?
The College Football Playoff selection committee includes current athletic directors, former coaches, former players and a media member. There are 13 and there are frequent changes.
Would Whitman like to serve?
"Maybe, Whitman said. "Right now, with some of these new things I'm going with the NCAA, it's hard to imagine adding another thing to my plate."
He was just elected chair of the NCAA Division I Council in April. He became the Big Ten representative to the Council in 2023.
"At the end of the day, what I want to do is be as helpful to the Big Ten as I can be," Whitman said. "Every time these different opportunities come up, there's a conversation with the conference about how to deploy our people."
Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel currently represents the Big Ten on the CFP selection committee.
Like Manuel, who played football for Bo Schembechler in Ann Arbor, having former tight end Whitman on the committee makes sense.
"If, at some point the conference determined that having me in that room instead of some of these other rooms would be the better place, then I'm always willing to listen to that," Whitman said.
