Urban Meyer calls for the end of College Football Playoff committee

The most powerful leaders in college athletics are currently in gridlock while debating extending the 12-team College Football Playoff. Evidently, former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer is less concerned about how many teams are in the CFP, and more worried about who picks which teams receive bids.

“Whatever we come up with, eliminate the committee,” Meyer said on The Triple Option podcast. “I was a big fan of the Big Ten’s model, where it said 4-4-2-2-1-1, and I don’t think that’s going to fly. But, I think there should be six teams for the Big Ten, six teams from the SEC, all involved. And there’s a play-in on Big Ten championship weekend, SEC championship weekend.

“Your six is playing your three. Four is playing Five. Those teams go to the playoff and go. That way, you know what the committee is? There’s no committee. And, I’m not hammering a committee, but, even if I was on the committee, I’m wrong sometimes. You’re wrong sometimes. I would do whatever it takes to get rid of the committee and have it be all planned.”

Under the current rules, 12 teams receive bids to the CFP. The five conference champions ranked highest in the CFP rankings receive automatic bids. The other seven teams are at-large bid.

Unlike last season, when the four highest-ranked conference champions received automatic byes, the four highest-ranked teams, in general, will receive byes this year. Simply put, the CFP will follow a straight-seeding model.

Meyer believes the CFP should follow a formulaic layout that guarantees a certain number of teams from each conference. In the model he referred to (4-4-2-2-1-1), there would be four teams from both the Big Ten and SEC receive bids, two teams from both the Big 12 and ACC, the highest-ranked Group-of-Five team, and an at-large team.

The at-large slot would allow teams like Notre Dame, that don’t belong to a conference, to appear in the CFP. There’s been no shortage of CFP models proposed, and the number only increases as conference leaders argue for more total slots in the playoff.

Of course, the more teams a conference has in the College Football Playoff, the more revenue it will generate. It’s a hot-button issue currently and likely won’t cool down anytime soon. Urban Meyer said he likes the idea of adding more teams to the CFP format, but simply wants college football’s leaders to have a solidified plan.