In 2026, Year 5 of the Lincoln Riley era, USC football fans should expect the Trojans to compete for the College Football Playoff.
But if USC does secure its first playoff berth in the CFP era, Trojan fans will endure a very messy playoff format as they root for the Cardinal and Gold to win a national title. Long breaks in between rounds, the anxiety of the transfer portal happening simultaneously in the background. It will be nothing like the smooth, clean ride that is the NFL playoffs, which Trojan fans watched closely this season as Sam Darnold led the Seahawks to a Super Bowl win.
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National college football writer Matt Hayes pointed out the discrepancies between the College Football and NFL playoffs that hold the CFP back from being more enjoyable for everyone and making more money:
“This season, the NFL — a financial goldmine of success and popularity — will play 13 playoff games in 30 days, finishing the annual joy ride Sunday with Super Bowl LX,” Hayes wrote last Thursday. “Clean, neat, efficient. Next season, College football — a financial whirlwind of the overwhelmed, stuck in a glass booth cash grab and frantically stabbing at anything that moves — will play 11 College Football Playoff games in 39 days. Dirty, messy, inefficient.”
“To say nothing of completely wrecking the college football player procurement calendar, and putting undue stress on coaches and players, and recruitable high school players.”
“Yet there was the CFP earlier this week, announcing next year’s quarterfinals would move off New Year’s Eve to avoid a scheduling conflict with a regular season NFL game. That’s the game plan, everyone: a malleable CFP, that works for all ― including the NFL.”
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He continued on to point out how simple it would be to fix the timing of the CFP in a way that benefits everyone. Sure, it would upend some college football tradition, but tradition has largely gone out the window in this new CFP era anyway.
“Why wouldn’t the 34 presidents of the SEC and Big Ten simply move back the season one week — to the current Week Zero spot — and play championship week on Thanksgiving weekend?” Hayes continued. “The first person who screeches “tradition!” gets flogged with a wet noodle.”
“Gimme a break. Tradition? You’ve dissected the sport into unwieldy Power quarters, eaten your own in the process, opened the doors to unregulated free agency and all but ignored academics. Tradition limped off the road a couple of exits back, bub.”
“The week after Thanksgiving is the first round of the CFP on campus. The second week of December — where bowl games can still be used and celebrated — is for the quarterfinals. The third week of December is the semifinals, and New Year’s Day is your national championship game.”
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“I think we can all agree the best place for the national championship game — on a day college football has owned forever — is the majestic Rose Bowl. Every single season, at 4 p.m. ET., with the sun setting on the picturesque San Gabriels at the start of the second half.
“There’s your nod to tradition. I’m getting goosebumps just writing it.”
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Matt Hayes pitches idea to fix issues with College Football Playoff
