Dodds: Four Playoff Teams Aren’t Enough

Texas AD DeLoss Dodds wants to see the four-team College Football Playoff go to eight. Mandatory Credit: Brendan Maloney-USA TODAY Sports

You know that bit where Louis C.K. talks about people becoming instantaneously spoiled?

Well, it’s nice to see that even one of the most powerful men in college football falls victim to that trap.

A four-team playoff isn’t enough, Texas AD DeLoss Dodds said Thursday at the Big 12’s spring meetings. He instead favors an eight-team playoff that some consider inevitable, though he conceded the newly established College Football Playoff, which debuts after the 2014 season, is a step in the right direction.

While few will actually disagree with Dodds’ overall point – the number of people who want more teams in the playoff vastly outnumber the people who are happy with four – it seems misguided to make the comments before the four-team playoff even begins.

Few think the phenomenon called “bracket creep,” in which tournaments naturally evolve to include more teams, can be avoided. Yet before the BCS is even in the ground, Dodds wants the College Football Playoff to field more teams.

Dodds’ contention focused on the argument between the fourth- and fifth-best teams nationally being more hotly debated than the eighth- and ninth-best teams.

Both Dodds’ logic and hopes seem reasonable. But DeLoss: Give it a second. These decisions have to go to administrators who apparently live in space. Can you give it a second?