Make California Post a Preferred Source The criticisms of an expanded College Football Playoff are well established.
Naysayers contend a 24-team CFP will diminish the importance of the regular season, end the bowl system and result in lots of lopsided first-round games.
Even though the coach’s first Bruins team is unbeaten and on track to make the 12-team CFP in the final season of its short run, he said he sees plenty of upside in a doubling of the field.
“I do think the conversation of it’s lazy and people will be able to relax a little bit and coaches just want to do this to save their jobs, I don’t see that being the case at all,” Chesney said Monday after the expansion was officially adopted. “I see this is as something that gives other people an opportunity.”
Chesney’s previous teams have made the playoffs with varying numbers of teams qualifying at the Division II (32 teams), Football Championship Subdivision (24 teams) and FBS (12 teams) levels.
“The number never really mattered to me,” Chesney said. “We were going to find a way to make it regardless.”
What Chesney likes about a 24-team CFP is it puts the sport more in line with college basketball, baseball and other sports that provide more postseason slots to win a national championship. That wasn’t the case with four playoff teams or even 12 in the FBS, which includes 138 teams.
“The chance of being in that tournament is what I’ve done my whole life realistically,” Chesney said, “so, to me, to have a quality team go play in some random bowl game as opposed to have a chance, I’d rather them have a chance and that’s, I think, good for the game. Time will tell.”
Chesney’s Bruins (9-0 overall, 6-0 Big Ten) have a chance to tie the school record for victories in a season Friday night when they face Illinois (6-3, 4-2) at the Rose Bowl. Slotted at No. 8 in the initial release of the CFP rankings, UCLA could assure itself of its first-ever playoff appearance with victories in two of its last three regular-season games.
The next CFP rankings are scheduled to be released Tuesday.
