The college football landscape is fracturing over the idea of expanding the current playoff system to 24 teams. The backlash from the fans and analysts has been immediate. Yet, standing almost entirely isolated on an island against the collective college football world is Heisman Trophy winner and analyst Robert Griffin III, along with his wife, Grete Griffin.
Why Robert Griffin III and Grete Griffin Support CFP Expansion
The primary argument against a 24-team field is that it dilutes the regular season, turning meaningful November matchups into exhibition games and threatening rivalries like Ohio State and Michigan’s. Griffin III completely rejects that premise, arguing instead that a broader bracket actually incentivizes a longer list of teams to fight down the stretch.
“I don’t care what you say about that. Those 24 teams get an opportunity to play for a national championship. In my mind that keeps the regular season meaning more for them, especially down the stretch,” Griffin III said on a clip posted on his X handle.
To back up RGIII’s philosophy, one only needs to look at the math of a 12-team vs. 24-team cutoff. In a 12-team model, roughly 15 to 18 teams are mathematically alive for a playoff spot by mid-November. By expanding to 24 teams, that number surges to nearly 40 programs.
Something similar is observed in the college basketball world, where the anticipation of the teams being on the bubble gains steam as the regular season ends.
Griffin III addresses the primary fan anxiety, the inclusion of mediocre, heavily defeated teams. “It caps the maximum losses at three, so there are no four-loss teams which a lot of fans are worried about,” RGIII noted. “No four-loss teams get in and we ride.”
Griffin tackles the systemic fairness, or lack of it, plaguing the current committee format. For years, the CFP selection process has been accused of brand bias. Grete did not mince words when assessing how the committee manipulates entry criteria.
“It keeps the whole season from being rigged,” Grete Griffin commented. “When you put on Alabama, has all these losses and you still let them into the playoffs, or when Florida State goes undefeated and you leave them out in the playoffs, you know what I mean? Or BYU has two losses and you leave them out. Like, it’s so rigged at this point that they need an entire overhaul of the entire system.”
The numbers validate her frustrations. The historic 2023 snub of a 13-0, ACC champion Florida State in favor of a 1-loss Alabama set a dangerous precedent. More recently, the committee drew immense ire when a 10-3 Crimson Tide squad suffered a 28-7 blowout in their conference title game, while a 2-loss BYU squad was heavily penalized for a similar conference championship loss and left entirely out of the bracket.
The college football purists will continue to scream that 24 teams professionalizes a collegiate sport. But as the Griffins point out, the current system is already broken, heavily biased, and fundamentally rigged. Expanding the field just democratizes the path to a national championship.
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