Oklahoma football: Talking College Football Playoff expansion

Oklahoma football has been one of the fortunate few to make it into the College Football Playoff. The Sooners have made it there three times in the five-year history of the CFP.

But the college football landscape is evolving faster than ever and College Football Playoff expansion may be the only way we can hedge against mega conferences.

A recent comment from a Georgia athletic director (and a dearth of talking points in the doldrums of summer) have teamed up to once again brought College Football Playoff expansion to the forefront of of the conversation.

The Bulldogs appear to be scheduling to build a strong resume in the future, loading up on non-conference heavy hitters in the latter part of the 2020s. Just look at Georgia’s 2029 non-conference slate that includes Georgia Tech, Clemson and Texas. That looks like something you would make in one of the old NCAA video games.

The logic behind it, according to the Daily Oklahoman, is they are prepping for a future that involves College Football Playoff expansion. The idea is a loaded schedule would be an obvious leg up over the competition in the committee room. When the current TV deal ends in 2025 we could see the playoff expand to six or even eight teams. One would think an eight team playoff would give each Power Five school a berth, allow one Group of Five team in and then pick two at-large teams to make up the field.

There’s also the idea that a large cross-conference games could help hold back the tide of the seemingly impending march of mega conferences. The Big 10, ACC and SEC already have 16 teams per conference while the Pac 12 sits at 14. Adding more giant crossover games per season could keep those events special.

Either way, expect to see even more of these big non-conference game announcements for the foreseeable future. Oklahoma is pretty well booked up through the beginning on the 2030s,but don’t be surprised to see them double up on blue blood opponents in a single season.