From Newsweek · Matthew Couden · · 1m 30s
Urban Meyer wants the CFP committee gone
A Fox analyst says the playoff format punishes teams for scheduling anyone good.
In brief
A Fox analyst says the playoff format punishes teams for scheduling anyone good. When strength of schedule can sink your playoff case, the smart move is to duck the big games, and that is bad for the sport. Originally reported by Newsweek.
The bracket fight never ends
The 2025-26 playoff spent as much time on who got left out as who played. Notre Dame and Texas were the loudest snub arguments, both tied to their schedules.
Miami made the final anyway
A team that was itself a debate case reached the national championship game, where Indiana beat them. The selection arguments rarely match how the games go.
Meyer calls it broken
On The Joel Klatt Show, the former Ohio State coach said the core fundamentals of the format are wrong, and he wants the committee replaced by conference play-in games.
“I wish the committee would go away, [and] it would turn to all play-in”
Nobody wants Old Dominion
Meyer's fear is a calendar stuffed with 50-point blowouts, because that is what the incentives reward. He does not want marquee games like Texas-Ohio State to disappear.
“we don't need to see Indiana against Old Dominion. No one wants to see that.”
Texas is the exhibit
The Longhorns went 10-3 with a loss to Ohio State among them, and missed the field. Swap that game for a cupcake and the math likely puts them in.
“If they play Old Dominion instead of Ohio State, they're in”
Bigger field, same problem
The playoff went from four teams in 2014 to twelve in 2023, and may add two or more after this season. Expansion has not settled how teams get picked.
The main idea
When strength of schedule can sink your playoff case, the smart move is to duck the big games, and that is bad for the sport.
