Bob Bowlsby Says Using Bowl Games For Early CFP Games ‘An Option’
Using bowl games as sites for early-round College Football Playoff games in an expanded format is an option, Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby told Sports Illustrated.
In a larger piece written by Ross Dellinger about the Rose Bowl’s potential issues with an expanded format, given the bowl game’s desire to remain being played on July 1, he threw in this nugget from a conversation he had with Bowlsby.
Some news in this story unrelated to the Rose: Bob Bowlsby tells @SINow that CFP leaders have discussed incorporating more bowl games into an expanded playoff.
Instead of 1st-round games on campus, play them at bowl sites, just like quarterfinals.
“That’s certainly an option”
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At Big 12 Media Days last week in Arlington, Texas, Bowlsby said he was hopeful that discussion about College Football Playoff expansion could be resolved as early as September, when the College Football Playoff’s board is set to meet. Right now, the CFP is seeking feedback on the expansion format from players, coaches, athletic directors and administrators.
Bowlsby said because it’s a ‘one-sport issue’ resolution could happen fast, but also said that the CFP is in no rush to make a decision.
The College Football Playoff is considering expansion, and the recommendation under consideration is a 12-team playoff. Announced in June, the 12-team proposal would be based on the College Football Playoff’s final season rankings, and would include the six highest-ranked conference champions and the six highest-ranked at-large teams.
Bowlsby was part of the four-person committee that worked rather stealthily on playoff expansion, as Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger noted in a story last month. Bowlsby, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick and Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson were also part of the working group. The quartet managed to work in secret for nearly two years, without leaking any information about any of the proposals they vetted, before presenting their recommendation to the College Football Playoff board of directors.
During the week of the proposal’s announcement, Bowlsby also told reporters that he felt an expanded playoff could solve one tricky of the postseason — player participation. Players are opting out of bowl games at a growing rate, and an expanded playoff might mitigate some of that, per Bowlsby.
“You know, as we start to see some young people opt out of their postseason experiences, you wonder if there will be as much of that among a larger number of teams that have a dog in the fight for a national championship,” he said.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
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