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…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/bob-asmussen-whitman-qualifying-expanded-144700961.html
Author : The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill.
Publish date : 2024-06-25 14:47:00
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