Before the College Football Playoff expanded from four teams to 12 teams in 2024, Ohio State made it to the tournament five times.
The Buckeyes won the CFP national championship in 2024 and returned to the CFP quarterfinal but lost to Miami in the Cotton Bowl.
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OSU appears to be in good shape whether the CFP is at four or 12 teams.
Arguably, the Buckeyes’ efforts in the regular season were diluted by going undefeated before losing to Indiana in the Big Ten championship because they lost in the CFP to an ACC team that failed to make its conference championship game.
The Big Ten is looking to expand the tournament to 24 teams, which would further dilute the Buckeyes’ regular season.
Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork told Eleven Warriors that he’d be okay with the CFP going back to four teams, because that would help his program.
“Selfishly, we should say, let’s just go back to four,” Bjork said. “Selfishly.”
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Still, Bjork understands why expanding to 16 or 24 teams would be beneficial for the sport. More games mean more TV ratings, which brings in more money for college football teams.
“I’m a believer in expansion,” Bjork said. “I think it’s good for the game of football. The games have never been more popular. … The fact that we have content that is valuable, live sporting content in today’s environment where everything’s sort of on demand, has never been more valuable.
Producing more content produces more revenue, which we can give back to the players. I’m all for that side of the equation.”
Bjork understands expanding doesn’t help improve Ohio State’s chances of winning the national championship. The Buckeyes, coming off a bye in the first round, wouldn’t have played Miami in the Cotton Bowl.
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However, the value created by having 24 teams will help all teams financially, including Ohio State in the long term.
“But I think (the CFP should expand) for the greater whole of the enterprise of college sports and the commercial activity, the content, the TV negotiations,” he said.
“I think it keeps the regular season more alive. If more teams are in the mix, these games are going to mean so much more than they already do, which again drives the value.”
It’ll be interesting to see how large the playoff expands. 24 teams seem like too big of a dance.
However, last season, deserving teams like BYU and Notre Dame were left out in favor of giving two Group of 6 teams a chance to participate.
Extra spots could allow more qualified teams to make the CFP.
