Ohio State Buckeyes: Gene Smith supports expanding College Football Playoff

The Ohio State athletic director told ElevenWarriors.com he is interested in the playoff growing from four teams to eight.

“I do believe we’re going to expand,” Smith told 11W. “I believe we should expand.

“There’s a lot to be worked out there, but I think it’s going to happen. I really do. It’s just a matter of when.”

The CFP shared April 23 it had already formed a working group to look into changing the format of the event that began in 2014.

According to that announcement — which came as a surprise to many who cover the sport and was buried in the bottom of an otherwise inconspicuous recap of the committee’s annual spring meeting — indicated a working group consisting of committee members had considered 63 possibilities for change.

Those include moving to a playoff consisting of six, eight, 10, 12 or 16 teams with a variety of different scenarios considered for each number.

“We are entering the eighth year of our 12-year agreement for the College Football Playoff and the management committee is extremely satisfied with the popularity and success of the CFP,” CFP executive director Bill Hancock said in a press release. “It is wise and good management to review where we stand as we discuss what the future might — might, for emphasis — look like.”

Ohio State has been part of four of the seven playoffs held so far.

The Buckeyes likely would have been invited to all of them if eight teams were included instead.

In 2017 and ’18, Ohio State missed the playoff despite winning the Big Ten championship. In ’15, the Buckeyes missed the Big Ten title game after losing to Michigan State in the regular season but finished seventh in the final rankings so the defending champions could have received an at-large bid.

Smith was a member of the CFP selection committee in 2017 and ’18, so he has direct knowledge of how the group operates.

He has also seen the Big Ten champion left out of the playoff four times (Ohio State went over Big Ten champ Penn State in 2016), so it did not come as a surprise to learn he favors automatic bids for champions of the Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 12, SEC and ACC.

“I’m a huge believer in conference championships, and I think everything we’ve done in a lot of our sports have diminished the conference championship,” Smith told 11W. “And just what I thought would happen, and I shared publicly before it started, once we launched the CFP, the championships that we would win, the (Big Ten) East and then ultimately in Indianapolis, would be lost because everybody the next day is driving back from Indianapolis and all they can think about was the show. Whether or not we’re in and where we’re gonna be seeded, and it would be forgotten that the team had just gone through the gauntlet.”

Most discussion about playoff expansion has centered in making sure all of the Power 5 conferences have at least one representative as well as expanding access to teams from the other FBS conferences.

Smith did not weigh in on the latter, but he did express concerns about being able to pull off an additional home game to kick off the CFP if another round is added.

“I think operationally, to be ready to host that level of a game and sell tickets that fast, I just think it’s better to go neutral site,” Smith said.

The CFP committee actively seeking information about expanding and a high-profile A.D. such as Smith expressing public support might make expansion seem more likely to become a reality, but neither of them will ultimately make the decision.

That will be handled by the CFP Board of Managers, a group of 11 university presidents and chancellors representing each of the FBS conferences and Notre Dame.

“All decisions about our future format (including) whether to remain at four teams or change to a different format will be made by the 11 presidents and chancellors who manage the CFP,” Hancock said last month.

“Since January 2019, when the presidents charged us with taking a careful look at all aspects of CFP, including the format, this group has diligently evaluated options for the future. Its efforts were delayed as a result of the pandemic, but it met again this week in Dallas, and we look forward to hearing more when its work is complete.”